SHILLONG: A week has passed since six prisoners including five militants and a convicted rapist hoodwinked the prison staff and made good their escape from the Williamnagar district jail but the State Police is yet to fix the responsibility on any jail staff for their alleged laxity.
Surprisingly, police are clueless on the whereabouts of the six escapees – Jasan Ch Marak and Grewith D Sangma of the GNLA, Sengchang Sangma, Raksim Momin and Dinesh Marak from ASAK and convicted rapist Chingkam Ch Marak who was involved in the infamous Williamnagar gang rape on December 13, 2012.
Following the incident on May 3, Additional DG in charge Prisons, B.L. Buam, had claimed that the ‘cleaning operation’ of all jails would continue, but when contacted on Sunday, the same official did not reply to the calls even after repeated attempts.
Besides the inquiry by Buam, East Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Cyril Diengdoh had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the prison break headed by T. Marak, Extra Assistant Commissioner.
While Additional DG (Prisons) Buam is silent on the action taken against the jail staff for their alleged laxity resulting in the jail break, there are reports that the District Superintendent of Jail and the Jailor were not present in Williamnagar jail when the incident took place.
It is also learnt that there were only a negligible number of warders in the Jail and just one armed uniformed personal on duty at the time of the jail break.
Though a text message was sent to Additional Chief Secretary in charge Home (Prisons), Hector Marwein, on whether any responsibility was fixed following the jail break, a reply from him is still awaited.
