COIMBATORE: For the first time since the scheme’s inception in 2018, a prisoner employed at a Tamil Nadu Prison department-run Freedom Fuel Station in Coimbatore escaped on Sunday. Three officials at the Coimbatore Central Prison have been suspended while police search for the 32-year-old convict.
According to prison department sources, S Vijayarathinam, a native of Gudalur in the Nilgiris, was convicted in a POCSO case and sentenced to 10-years imprisonment on October 19, 2019. He was among the 20 prisoners selected based on good conduct to work at the fuel station on Bharathiar Road near the Coimbatore town bus terminus. The fuel station, an initiative of the prison department and Indian Oil Corporation Limited, was inaugurated in August 2023. Police escort the prisoners from the prison to the fuel station and take them back after their shift. The prisoners sign in an attendance register and are monitored while at work, sources added. Each of the prisoners gets a monthly salary of Rs 6,000.
On Saturday, Vijayarathinam was on night duty with seven others. When the escort team arrived at 5.15 am on Sunday to take the eight men back, he was missing, sources said. Upon checking CCTV footage, officials spotted him walking towards the staff quarters situated behind the fuel station. They informed higher officials and alerted Kattoor police station. The other prisoners on night shift are being questioned. Vijayarathinam has worked at the station since it opened.
DGP of Prison and Correctional Services Amaresh Pujari placed head warder Kaniraj and grade II warders Jeganathan and Vignesh Kumar under suspension for negligence of duty. A senior prison department officer said that to prevent convicts from escaping, 24-hour surveillance has been ordered in all Freedom fuel stations across the state.
First incident since inception of scheme
“This is the first incident since the inception of the scheme in 2018. Usually the convicts’ background, their family background, circumstances under which they committed the crime and their behaviour in prison are taken into consideration before selecting them for the scheme. Only prisoners, who have completed four years of their sentence, are considered. Their employment financially benefits their families,” the officer said. ENS
Action taken
DGP Amaresh Pujari has suspended three warders from the Coimbatore Central Prison for negligence of duty. Cops are looking for the convict