A day after six inmates escaped from the Dharmanagar sub-jail in North Tripura district, five jail department officers were suspended and a second escapee was rearrested on Thursday, officials said.
While one of the escapees, Abdul Patta, was re-arrested on Wednesday evening, the second escapee, Narayan Chandra Datta, was re-arrested at Malakar Basti in Dharmanagar on Thursday evening, officials said, adding that the search for the other four escapees was underway.
The six inmates, five of them undertrial prisoners, escaped from the jail after attacking a security guard. Amid Durga Puja celebrations, they had been brought out for morning rituals and breakfast when they escaped from the jail, a police officer told indianexpress.com on Wednesday.
A jail department official identified the suspended officers as jailer Dhananjoy Bhattacharya and wardens Pallab Kanti Bhowmik, Prashikhan Jamatia, Mohammad Gedu Mia, and Notan Lodh.
The inmates are Najim Uddin and Md. Rahim Ali, both from Churaibari, situated near the Assam-Tripura boundary; Sunil Debbarma from Melaghar of Sepahijala district; Rosan Ali from Kadamtala of North Tripura district; Abdul Patta of Nilambazar in Assam’s Sribhumi district; and Narayan Chandra Datta of Bangladesh’s Deni district.
A massive search operation was launched in both North Tripura and nearby Unakoti districts. The Border Security Force was asked to maintain a strict vigil along the border to prevent unauthorised border crossings, and all entry and exit points on the borders with Assam, Mizoram, and Bangladesh were put under tight surveillance, officials said.