Militants, rapist among escaped prisoners
TURA: Six prisoners have escaped from Williamnagar district jail in East Garo Hills after overpowering the guards on a hot Sunday afternoon.
The escapees include hardcore militants from the banned GNLA and ASAK and a convicted rapist involved in the gang rape of a girl during the winter festival over three years ago.
The prison break took place approximately at 2:30pm when one of the under trial prisoners reportedly approached a temporary assistant jail warden asking for a volleyball.
When the jail official opened the inner gate to allow the UTP to collect the ball from one of the prison rooms in the complex five other prisoners, waiting on the sidelines, rushed out and overpowered the assistant warden.
To make matters worse, the outer gate of the prison was also left open giving an opportunity for the prisoners to flee to freedom.
An alarm was raised by an armed police battalion constable on duty at a watch tower who spotted the scuffle taking place below.
When the six prisoners rushed towards the outer gate, three battalion constables along with a jail staffer tried to block their escape but in vain. They were attacked and overpowered by the desperate six who quickly made good their escape.
They were last spotted crossing the river Simsang towards Songmagre and into the badlands of the GNLA.
The escaped prisoners have been identified as Jasan Ch Marak and Grewith D Sangma of the GNLA, Sengchang Sangma, Raksim Momin and Dinesh Marak from the ASAK outfit and convicted rapist Chingkam Ch Marak.
Two of the ASAK ultras, Sengchang and Raksim, were involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Shekhawat, a well known businessman and trader of Rongsak village. After collecting the ransom money and murdering their victim the duo surrendered in South Garo Hills district feigning ignorance about the murder until police unraveled the mystery and arrested them. Another ASAK militant who escaped, Dinesh Marak, was the outfit’s action commander. The convicted prisoner Chingkam who escaped with the group was one among several who gangraped a girl while she was returning from the winter festival show in Williamnagar in December.
Following the jail break, Deputy Commissioner Cyril Diengdoh has ordered a magisterial enquiry.
The Director General of Prisons, B L Buam, IPS, has also rushed to Williamnagar from Shillong to conduct a separate probe on whether there was any role of involvement in the escape by jail staff and police guards posted at the prison.
