Tripura jailbreak: One inmate nabbed, massive search for five continues

One of the six inmates who escaped from a jail in Tripura in the early hours of Wednesday has been apprehended, while an intensive search is underway to nab the remaining five fleeing prisoners, officials said.

A police official said that Abdul Patta, one of the six inmates who escaped from the Dharmanagar Sub-Jail at Kalikapur in North Tripura district on Wednesday early morning, was apprehended on Wednesday evening from South Chandrapur under the Dharmanagar police station.

An intensive search operation is on to nab the other five fugitives by the Police and other security forces, the official said.

The official said that six inmates -- five undertrial prisoners and one serving life imprisonment -- escaped from the Dharmanagar Sub-Jail at Kalikapur in North Tripura district in the wee hours of Wednesday after assaulting a guard with sharp weapons.

The incident took place when the jail personnel brought the inmates out of their cell for breakfast and for their daily ablutions. The injured jail staff, Bedu Miah, is currently under treatment at the Dharmanagar District Hospital, and his condition is said to be stable now.

Officials said that immediately after the incident, a massive search operation was launched by various teams of security forces, and the hunt for them is still on. North Tripura district Superintendent of Police Avinash Kumar Rai also led one of the search teams.

All police stations and security posts in North Tripura and adjoining Unakoti districts were alerted.

“We have also requested the Border Security Force to maintain a strict vigil along the India-Bangladesh border so that the fleeing jail inmates cannot cross the border,” an official said.

North Tripura district shares inter-state borders with Assam and Mizoram, besides an International Border with Bangladesh.

The official said, “All the exit points along Assam, Mizoram and Bangladesh have been sealed following the incident to prevent the fleeing jail inmates from leaving the state.”

The fleeing undertrial prisoners are Abdul Pata, Rahim Ali, Narayan Chandra Dutta, Rosan Ali, and Nazim Uddin, while Sunil Debbarma, accused of serious crimes including murder, has been serving life imprisonment.

Narayan Chandra Dutta is a Bangladeshi national who was earlier arrested in Tripura under the Passport and other Acts, while Abdul Pata is a resident of Nilambazar in Assam’s Sribhumi district (previously Karimganj district).

Abdul Pata was earlier arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, for his involvement in illegal drug-related cases.