The committee led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ramesh Phunyal has stated that inspector Ishwor Basnet, who was in-charge of the security of the Jhumka jail, among 16 others, was the main guilty. [break]
The other 16 policemen held guilty by the Phunyal committee include sub inspector Jit Bahadur KC, two assistant sub inspectors, some constables and policemen. "Especially those policemen who were on duty in eastern and southern security posts have been found guilty," said Phunyal.
Altogether 35 out of 46 policemen led by inspector Basnet, who were deployed for the jail´s security, were suspended immediately after the incident. The rest 11 policemen have also been transferred elsewhere. "As per the prisons act (1963), the guilty policemen can be sentenced to jail, too," said Phunyal.
On November 9, altogether 12 inmates, including one Bangladeshi and two Indian nationals, had escaped from the Jhumka jail by digging an 80-feet tunnel. "The escapees required at least one month to dig the tunnel," said Phunyal. "The fact that on-duty policemen were unaware of this for so long clearly shows that they were involved in the jail break."
The probe committee has also revealed that policemen themselves helped the inmates to hide the earth removed from the tunnel, which was thrown into a pond located inside the jail compound.
The escapees had managed to dig the tunnel without letting other inmates know about their plan under the cover of manufacturing bamboo furniture. Other inmates were not allowed to enter into the furniture factory built on the premises of the jail.
"No one had taken permission for running the furniture factory inside the jail," said Phunyal. "But, the police did not bother about shutting that factory."
The Phunyal committee, which was previously instructed to submit its report within a week, has sought a couple of days more to reach a conclusion. "We will submit our report within two-three days," he said. Another probe committee led by Shambhu Koirala, director general of the Department of Prison Management, is also submitting its report within the next few days.
Eleven of the total 12 escapees are convicted criminals -- most of them involved in cases of murder, abduction, drug peddling and human trafficking. Ram Prasad Upadhyaya, the jailer, was also suspended subsequently after the jailbreak.
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