

THENI: Police have arrested all 17 prisoners who escaped from Thekkampatti prison in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district on Monday night after allegedly attacking prison guards on duty.
The last two escapees, Tirupathi and Meenakshisundaram, were arrested by the police, while Regin and Ponmuthu Selvam were among those apprehended earlier in the day.
Of the 17 prisoners who escaped, five were caught on Tuesday morning, followed by eight more later in the day. The latest arrests bring the operation to a close, with all the escapees now in police custody.
Meanwhile, police took the arrested prisoners to the hilly terrain to identify the route they took after escaping from the prison and the places where they had taken shelter.
More than 300 police personnel, including special teams and crime branch personnel, were involved in the search operation. Three drones were also used to monitor the hilly terrain.
Police questioned the arrested prisoners at the spot and used the information they provided to trace the whereabouts of the remaining fugitives.