BHOPAL: In a major security lapse, four inmates, including two men convicted in a drug smuggling and a rape case escaped from the district jail in Neemuch district of West Madhya Pradesh in the wee hours on Sunday.
The four inmates, who were supposedly lodged in a single barrack, cut through the grills of the barrack and then climbed through the outer wall of the jail with the help of a rope, possibly thrown from outside.
The jailbreak took place between 4 am and 5 am.
The four jail inmates who fled from the district jail in Neemuch -- the West MP district bordering Rajasthan -- included two convicts Nar Singh who was convicted in an NDPS Act case and Dube Lal, who was convicted in a rape case, besides two undertrials Pankaj Mongia (NDPS Act case) and Lekh Ram who is a murder accused.
Two of them hail from MP, while two others are natives of adjoining Rajasthan.
According to Inspector General of Ujjain Range Rakesh Gupta, a high alert has been sounded in Neemuch and adjoining districts of MP, besides adjoining Rajasthan to track and nab the four jail escapers.
The cops present in the jail are also collecting details of those people who had visited the four inmates recently at the jail.
The Madhya Pradesh Jail department has ordered an administrative probe into the matter and the four fugitives are now carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 reach, said DG Jail Sanjay Chaudhary.
Prior to this, the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had happened in district jail in Khandwa in 2013 and Bhopal Central Jail in 2016.