Two central jail personnel held for militant serving life term escape

Two personnel of Tripura’s central jail were arrested on Wednesday for their suspicious role in escaping of a militant belonging to the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), Swarna Kumar Tripura, who was serving a life sentence in multiple cases, from the central jail in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Tuesday.

A police official said that central jail warder Tapan Rupini and Guard Commander Mafiz Mia were arrested as they were suspected to be helping the NLFT militant to flee from the jail on Tuesday.

He said that an intensive search operation was on and Police stations across the state have been alerted to locate the convict.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has also been put on high alert to prevent the convict from crossing over to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The police earlier said the inmate was found missing during routine checking on Tuesday morning.

Based in Bangladesh, the NLFT cadre was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty in multiple cases, including for murder and kidnapping.

The militant of the banned NLFT outfit had escaped twice before -- from the central jail in 2016 and from the Kanchanpur sub-jail in 2022. He was re-arrested in 2023 and since then he was lodged at the central jail.

There are around 650 inmates in the central jail located around 30 km from here.