2 flee Uttarakhand jail. Did they escape while Ramlila was ‘vanars’ looking for Sita? | India News – Times of India

HARIDWAR: Two prisoners fled from Haridwar District Jail on Friday evening as guards and officials were engrossed in a Ramlila performance inside the prison. The prisoners, one serving a life sentence and the other awaiting trial, escaped undetected until it was too late for prison authorities to track them down.
Even as Haridwar was baffled by rumors that the two refugees were playing the role of monkeys in the ‘vanar sena’ (Lord Ram’s monkey army) and pretending to search for Sita as they fled, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered an inquiry to the incident. The investigation will be led by the DIG Jail. Meanwhile, six prison staff have been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty.
One of the escapees Pankajis a sharpshooter of the Praveen Valmiki gang and was sentenced to life for the murder of a sanitation worker in Roorkee. The other, Rajkumar, who hails from UP’s Gonda, is suspected of kidnapping. A third prisoner tried to escape but failed to scale the wall.
Haridwar DM Karmendra Singh told TOI that the prisoners were exploiting the negligence of the jail administration. “Prison officials and guards were preoccupied with the show when three inmates took advantage of the situation and escaped.”
Days before their escape, the three inmates had spotted two ladders abandoned at a construction site in the prison. During Ramlila’s performance, they used the distraction to tie the ladders with clothes and climb the prison wall.
The prison authorities had started the tradition of Ramlila in the prison a few years ago, allowing prisoners to participate in acting while others, including guards, looked on.
The police have filed a case and formed several teams to hunt for the suspects. Authorities say around 550 prisoners released on parole during Covid remain missing.