Four prisoners escape sub-jail in Gujarat; search operation launched

Four undertrials escaped from a sub-jail in Borsad town of Gujarat's Anand district in the wee hours of Saturday, following which the authorities launched an operation to nab them, police said.

The incident occurred between 3.30 am and 4 am, Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar said.

"Four inmates of Borsad sub-jail, who were under trial in cases of murder, rape and prohibition, managed to escape by cutting the wooden part under the iron bar of the barrack gate using a saw and then jumping a high boundary wall," he said.

One of the undertrials was accused of murder, two of rape under the provisions of Protection of Children for Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), and one under the Prohibition Act of the state, Kumar said.

"We have put up barricades across various points and launched a combing operation to nab them. One of the escapees was traced, but he quickly managed to escape through farmland," he said.

The official said that one of the escaped prisoners, who was charged under the Prohibition Act, was granted bail by a court just recently and it is not clear what prompted him to escape.

Notably, this is not the first time such an incident has happened in the Borsad sub-jail.

In 2004, ten prisoners had escaped the same sub-jail. Three prisoners had escaped the jail in two separate incidents in 2018.