Patiala, May 6

Almost a week after three convicts escaped from the Patiala central jail, the police today arrested one of them while he was visiting his village to borrow money.

The police arrested Inderjeet Singh from his village where he had gone to borrow money from a friend.

The arrest is likely to shed light on how the three scaled two jail walls. Sources claimed the inmate told the police they received no external help and escaped by scaling the two walls on their own.

“However, his claim is being verified and will be corroborated when the other two are arrested,” said a senior police official. The three had escaped following alleged laxity on part of jail officials last week. All three were lodged in the Koratine barrack, which houses cells for inmates. The police were investigating how they managed to scale a 10-foot inner wall and the 12-foot outer wall. “The three made a hole in the cell wall and scaled the two outer walls without getting noticed,” said a source inside the jail. “We learnt about it in the morning when one of the jail guard notices the hole during the change of guard,” said the source.

The convicts who allegedly fled the jail included Sher Singh of Vanike village in Amritsar; Inderjeet Singh Dhiana of Ranipur Komboa village in Kapurthala; and Jaspreet Singh Noopi of Dhadi village in Roopnagar. Patiala SSP Vikramjeet Duggal said raids were on to nab the other two escapees. — TNS