Pak ultras flee jail; 11 officials suspended

JAMMU, October 18: Three Pakistani mercenaries, including prime accused in the 1995 Republic Day bomb blasts, have escaped from the high ...

JAMMU, October 18: Three Pakistani mercenaries, including prime accused in the 1995 Republic Day bomb blasts, have escaped from the high securuty Kot Balwal prison during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Eleven police officials, including Superintendent of Police, prisons, have been suspended in connection with the incident and a high-level probe ordered even as leads so far point to involvement of insiders’ in the incident.Officials identify the jailbirds as mercenaries — self-styled major Irfan Ahmed, Mohammad Salim and Mohammad Khalid — who were lodged in a single barrack of the jail situated on the outskirts of Jammu.

Irfan ahmed was accused of masterminding a series of blasts at Maulana Azad stadium during Republic Day Function in 1995 here, in which the then Governor K V Krishna Rao had a miraculous escape while eight people were killed and more than 60 wounded.

Minister of State for Home Mushtaq Ahmed Lone who visited the jail today has ordered Inspector General of Police, Crime &Railways, P V Raju to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and submit the report within 10 days.

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Stung by the criticism over the jailbreak, the state government suspended 11 police officials including SP, Bachan Singh Chaudhary, DSP, D L Chattu, Inspectors Sudesh Kumar and Naresh Kumar, besides seven other police personnel in-charge of the security of the cell from where the Pakistanis, including the main accused in the 1995 M A M Stadium bomb blast, had escaped.

Sources said that preliminary inquiry carried out so far had clearly pointed towards the involvement of an insider’ in the jailbreak. Giving details, sources said the militants were lodged in a strong cell which was housed in a guarded enclosure. “Generally, at night the door of the cell used to be closed but over some time the jail staff used to keep the door open and the Pakistanis used to sleep in the locked enclosure outside the cell,” an officer said and added that during the eventful night the iron rods roofing the enclosure werecut. However, damage to the rods suggest it was cut from the outside the enclosure pointing which lead the probe to believe that the Pakistanis had insider’ help.

Another fact that boosts the insider theory is the difficulty of the escapees had cross two security walls without sounding off any alarm. "The inside wall is 11 ft in height and the outside one 20 ft. Even if they managed to cross over the inside wall, it was difficult to clear the 20 ft outside wall without the security personnel coming to know about it,” the source pointed out.

Significantly, initial reports suggested that the militants escaped from the prison in a vehicle which was waiting for them metres ahead of the prison. “It seems the jailbreak was pre-planned. We also suspect that a local guide could have been waiting for the Pakistanis in the vehicle as it was difficult for them to evade the security nakas dotting the area without local help,” an officer speculated.

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What is also being investigated minutely is that the SPChaudhary had gone on four-days official leave from October 13 to 16 at a time when his Deputy SP was also on leave. “This creates doubts in our minds. Why did he go on leave when his deputy was not present,” an officer wondered.