Fourteen undertrials managed to escape after assaulting four jail guards on Saturday night in Margao judicial lock-up, about 30 km from here, the police said.An intensive combing operation has been launched to nab the undertrials who escaped when they were brought out of their cells to participate in Ganesh festival prayers.Of the 14, six were being tried in connection withmurder, robbery and dacoity, police said.The jail authorities informed the police about the incident only on Sunday morning, resulting in delay in search operation.In what seemed to be a pre-planned act, the undertrials assaulted the jail guards and locked them in a cell before running away, the police said.“We got intimation in the morning and immediatelythe search operation was initiated,” Superintendent of Police Shekhar Prabhudesai said.Police have a kept close watch on the Kadamba Transport Corporation bus terminals, Konkan Railway stations and have also sealed state borders. “Few of these undertrials originally hail from Karnataka and Maharashtra. We are checking almost all the passing vehicles,” the SP said.No arrests have been made so far, the police added.
