CUTTACK: Senior jail superintendent of Choudwar circle jail Sujit Kumar Raul was suspended on Friday for remaining in judicial custody for more than 48 hours on charges of tampering with prison records.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi approved Raul’s suspension on Friday in accordance with service rules applicable to officials who remain in custody for more than 48 hours, a statement issued by the chief minister’s office said.
He was arrested on September 20 on charges of tampering with prison records, including the in-and-out register, and forging the signature of former jailor, Santoshini Dash, in the superintendent’s minute book in an alleged attempt to shift responsibility in the jailbreak case.
Two undertrial prisoners, Raja Sahani of Lohia Nagar and Madhukant Kumar of Rampur in Bihar, had escaped from Choudwar circle jail by cutting the iron bars of their cells and scaling two walls during Dussehra celebration on the night of October 2 last year. Chief warder Bhagat Ram and warder Sidharth Sahu, who was on duty that night, were suspended immediately and the Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services also initiated a departmental inquiry.
Following an inquiry, conducted by DIG, Prisons and Correctional Services Anasuya Jena, action was initiated against the jailor. She was transferred on October 14 for dereliction of duty and subsequently suspended on February 19.
However, a retired jail superintendent questioned the transparency of the inquiry. “The departmental inquiry was carried out with bias and mala fide intentions to make some officials scapegoats. There is a night round officer in Choudwar jail to supervise the duties of warders and the chief warder. Why was the night round officer left out of the inquiry and not held responsible for the incident?” he questioned. The retired officer further questioned how did the cell-in-charge officer fail to notice that UTPs had cut one bar each from their cells to create a 12-inch gap through which they could slip out.
On July 21, 2025, two broken saw blades were recovered from the possession of the two UTPs. However, the jail authorities reportedly neither filed an FIR nor conducted an inquiry to ascertain how the prisoners obtained the blades. They were only shifted to two separate high-security cells.
“Despite being aware of their escape attempt, the routine cell inspections mandated under the jail manual were allegedly ignored. Therefore, the suspension of the chief warder and the warder, along with the action against the jailor, appears to be an attempt to protect those actually responsible,” he alleged.