THENI: Less than 24 hours after 17 remand prisoners escaped from a sub-jail in Theni in the biggest jailbreak in Tamil Nadu in three decades, police caught 13 of them following a manhunt involving scores of personnel and drones.Four escapees were caught during an overnight search, while another was trapped and brought back to the prison by an alert auto driver. The remaining escapees were traced to a forest patch near the prison with the help of drones, and nabbed.Police have tightened surveillance along the inter-state border and sought assistance from Keralam after suspicion that they might sneak into the neighbouring state.DGP (Prisons) Sandeep Rai Rathore attributed the escape to “human error” and a breach of security protocols. Nine prison staff have been suspended for negligence, while a detailed probe is under way to find the circumstances that led to the jail break. The incident has also exposed security lapses as the centralised siren system was not functioning when the inmates escaped.TN opposition party leaders said it signified “total breakdown of law and order”. Prisons department minister C T R Nirmalkumar said the govt would ensure that all the escaped prisoners were caught.Preliminary inquiries revealed five of the prisoners, co-accused in a murder case, had planned the escape and the others joined them. Prison officials said one of the inmates faked an epileptic seizure around 10.30pm on Monday. When a prison staff came to his rescue, the other inmates assaulted him and snatched the keys. They attacked other approaching prison guards and fled through the main entrance. One of the prison guards sustained severe injuries in the attack, while two others had minor injuries.The first breakthrough for police came around 1am on Tuesday. One of the escapees, Praveen Kumar, who was hiding behind bushes near a watchtower outside the prison premises, found himself unable to run after thorns injured his feet. He returned and sat near the tower, where police apprehended him.Theni SP K S Praveen Gautham, South zone IG Vijayendra Bidari and Madurai Central Prison superintendent R Krishnaraj joined the 300 odd personnel in the night long search operation. They were split into 17 special teams.Around 6.45am, police caught three more inmates — Silambarasan of Theni and Raja Sikanthar and Rajkumar of Madurai. One was intercepted near Velayuthapuram, while two others were found hiding near a school. “Villagers who noticed suspicious movements towards Thirumalapuram and Nimanankulam alerted police, helping the teams narrow their search,” said a sub-inspector from the special team stationed there.On information that a group of fugitives were hiding in the forest in Varusanadu, police deployed drones to scan the terrain. By 5pm, drones located the eight men and teams rounded them up. Among those apprehended were Muthu Ilangovan and four others accused in the murder case. Investigators suspect Ilangovan played the central role in planning the jailbreak.“The group had planned to follow railway tracks towards a station or Madurai before boarding a train to a distant destination. But we had the tracks and stations covered,” Bidari said, adding that the remaining escapees would soon be caught.
