Ludhiana: Undertrial escapes central jail by scaling wall

Taking advantage of security lapses in the Ludhiana Central Jail, an undertrial escaped through an under-construction watchtower of the prison on Friday. He had returned from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) court.

The jail officials came to know about it on Friday night during the attendance of the inmates. They were shocked when they did not find him in the barrack and sounded alert. The Division number 7 police lodged an FIR against the undertrial identified as Rohin Bhatti of Tajpur mohalla, Machhiwara road.

After the incident, inspector general (IG, prisons) Roop Kumar Arora and deputy inspector general (DIG, prisons) Surinder Singh Saini reached the Ludhiana Central Jail and initiated investigation.

Rohin was taken to the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar court for the hearing of a case of liquor smuggling lodged against him at Rahon Police station on July 11, 2019. Hours after returning from the hearing, he went missing.

When jail officials initiated a search, the fellow inmates informed them that they had seen him going towards NB barrack. In his complaint, Shivraj Singh Nandgarh, superintendent of the Ludhiana Central Jail, said that after returning from the hearing, he had collected all his belongings which were found in the under-construction watchtower near the NB barrack.

He stated that the door of the watchtower is towards the barrack. The accused scaled the compound wall of the jail after climbing up the tower.

The officials suspect that the accused was planning the escape for a long time. They also suspect the involvement of some outsiders in his escape.

A case under Section 224 of the IPC has been lodged against the accused at Division number 7 police. Several teams have been formed for his arrest.

Rohin is also facing a trial in a case of voluntarily causing hurt and trespassing lodged against him at the Rahon police station. Earlier, on March 5, while returning from the hearing he had managed to procure a mobile phone, which was recovered by the jail employees during checking at the main door of the jail. The jail staff had written to the Division number 7 police to lodge an FIR.

Earlier, he was lodged in the NB barrack but after recovery of a mobile phone, he was shifted to the cell block in the jail.

Similar incidents

May 11, 2020

A jailbreak attempt by three inmates at the Ludhiana Central Jail had gone awry when one of them suffered injuries while scaling the wall.

March 28, 2020

Four inmates had escaped from the central Jail after scaling the compound wall in the wee hours. The jail authorities came to know about the jail break in the morning during daily attendance.