Bangladeshi escapes Karimganj jail with another prisoner

GUWAHATI/SILCHAR: Two undertrial prisoners, including a Bangladeshi national, fled the Karimganj district jail on Thursday morning.
The matter came to light around 8 am on Thursday, at the time of morning counting. Karimganj SP Kumar Sanjit Krishna said, "An inquiry is being conducted into the incident and efforts are on to nab the escaped prisoners. Security forces at the international border have been informed to keep a vigil." He said all the police stations across Barak Valley have been alerted.
The Bangladeshi national, lodged in the jail since May 18, 2018, has been identified as Samsul Islam (18). He was arrested from Nilambazar, 16 km south of the district headquarters, for illegally entering India through a Hume pipe along the four-km India-Bangladesh border that the district shares with Bangladesh. Three of Samsul's associates were also arrested with him.
The Indian prisoner has been identified as Nasim Ahmed (35), who was imprisoned since June 17, 2019, on charges of murder and dealing in illegal drugs. Both Ahmed and Samsul were kept in the same cell of the jail.
The prisoner escaped, taking advantage of the ongoing construction work at the jail, which was built in 1882 during British rule, officials said.
"The jail was built of bamboo and major parts of the jail needed repair work. The construction work of a new pucca jail is going on in the compound. The prisoners first broke one of the bamboo walls of the cell and then used a ladder to cross the 14-feet boundary wall," said jail superintendent Sanjib Kumar Chutia.
Ahmed was undergoing trial in the additional chief judicial magistrate's court, while the case of Bangladeshi national was going on in the additional session judge's court of Karimganj.
The jail authority has filed a case at Karimganj police station against the prisoners under Section 224 of the Indian Penal Code.