SURKHET, July 14: The investigation into the Surkhet jailbreak incidence has found that police leniency towards the use of mobile phones by inmates might have helped two prisoners escape from the jail.
Police recovered a cell phone, apparently, used by one of the two inmates who escaped from Surkhet jail on Tuesday by making a hole on the compound wall of the jail. [break]
“Jail authorities were full aware of the use of mobiles by prisoners,” an official involved in investigation said. “But, they were never bothered by the fact.” According to him, the two might have used mobile phone to obtain the hammer and iron rod that was used to make the hole.
Officials also suspect that other prisoners might have helped the two escape from the jail. The hole made by the fleeing prisoners was only 16 inches in diameter and two feet above the ground.
“It is next to impossible to escape through such a narrow hole two feet above the ground without the support of others,” said the official. “It gives us a reason to suspect involvement of other inmates.”
Two probe panels, one led by Assistant Chief District Officer Hari Pyakurel and another headed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jay Bahadur Chand on Wednesday collected statements of inmates, police and jail administration officials.
In the second jailbreak in Surkhet in 10 years, Purna Bahadar Shahi, convicted of rape, and Bijay Bikram Shah, remanded on abduction charge, had escaped.