Two senior members of the CPI-Maoist were killed and three injured as sentries within the West Singhbhum district jail in Chaibasa town opened fire on a group of 20 prisoners attempting to escape on Tuesday evening. Fifteen prisoners managed to escape through the main gate. "About 7-8 of the escaped are Maoists. The rest were in jail on general criminal cases. The dead are Ramvilas Tanti and Tipa Das, who were in senior positions," said DGP Rajeev Kumar. The three injured had not been hit by bullets and have been given first aid. Das, a platoon commander of the PLGA, was arrested in August this year. Tanti, then in Jamui jail, was one of the eight the Maoists had wanted freed in exchange for the lives of three abducted Bihar policemen in September 2010. Johnson Ganjhu, whom the police say is an area commander, is the seniormost of the seven escaped who have alleged Maoists connections. "The other six are Maoist supporters. We are searching for them," said West Singhbhum's Superintendent of Police Narender Singh. Home Secretary N. N. Pandey has declared Inspector General of Prisons Shailendra Bhushan will inquire into the incident. The incident happened when 55 prisoners were being brought back to the jail after being presented in court. They were in a jail van, which entered the jail's main gate shortly after 4.30 PM. "The rest were already in and while the rest were being taken into the jail itself, someone threw chilli powder at the guards," said DGP Kumar. There is a version that one of the prisoners took the chilli powder out of his tiffin carrier, but it could not be corroborated. DGP Kumar said prima facie, the problem was with the jail authorities. "It looks like the main gate was not secured before letting the prisoners out," he said. There also seems to be a major lapse in following a Standard Operating Procedure, which is to make sure general undertrials do not mix with alleged Maoists during prison transfers. This violation had come to light in the aftermath of an attack on a jail van in Giridih in November, 2012. "I don't think anyone follows that instruction in the state," conceded DGP Kumar. Chaibasa jail has witnessed jailbreaks by Maoists before: In January 2011, senior Maoists Nirbhay, Sandeep and Dhirendra had escaped. They remain at large.
