THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the first such case in recent times, two inmates in their 20s escaped from women’s sub-jail at Attakulangara in the heart of the capital city in broad daylight on Tuesday. Sandhya, 26, and Shilpa, 23, who were remanded in prison in two separate cases, were found to be missing from the prison compound at 5.30 pm.
Their absence was noticed when head count of inmates was taken before locking them up in cells. CCTV visuals showed the women in casual clothes running through the by-lanes near the prison.
Sandhya and Shilpa pulled off the daring act hardly a month into their life in prison. They were remanded on June 17 and June 8 respectively. Sandhya, a native of Varkala, is accused in a theft case. Nagaroor native Shilpa was remanded in a cheating case.
The incident is a major embarrassment to the State Prisons Department. DGP (Prisons) Rishiraj Singh visited the sub-jail to co-ordinate the search operation. The Fort Police said the prisoners might have escaped by breaching the compound wall at the back of the premises. But the police are clueless about how the women managed to climb such a high wall.
The search operations have begun by verifying the CCTV visuals. According to Fort Police Station House Officer Manoj, efforts were on to trace the two.