One of three convicts who broke out from Kalaburagi jail arrested after shootout, search on for other two

KALABURAGI: After three prisoners escaped from the Kalaburagi Central Prison, the police on Wednesday shot at one of them in the leg in self-defence after he reportedly tried to attack them.

Afer the police got confirmed information that one of the escaped prisoners, Santosh, was in Kalaburagi city’s Kapnoor Industrial Area, a team led by Farhatabad CPI Hussain Basha went to arrest him. However, Santosh attacked two constables, Kalyani and Prakash. In self-defence, CPI Hussain Basha fired at prisoner Santosh’s right leg and arrested the accused. Later, the two injured constables and prisoner Santosh were admitted to Kalaburagi GIMS Hospital for treatment.

The escape of three prisoners from Kalaburagi Central Prison had caused severe embarrassment to Home Minister Priyank Kharge. Hence, the police force mounted a manhunt to somehow nab the escaped Mastan, Sagar and Santosh.

Kalaburagi City Police Commissioner Dr Sharannappa visited the hospital and gathered information about the case. He also inquired about the health of the injured constable and the accused.

Speaking to the media, Dr Sharannappa said, “Teams were formed under Kalaburagi City DCP and Bidar Police to trace the three escaped accused. We received confirmed information that the prisoner Santosh was in Kapnoor Industrial Area. When we went to arrest him, he attempted to attack our staff. At that time, our staff fired shots in the air for self-defence. Then, our staff shot the accused in his right leg. The search for the remaining two escaped prisoners is ongoing.”

Meanwhile, Prisons DG Alok Kumar has issued an order to suspend eight jail staffers — Jail Superintendent Rakesh Kamble, Assistant Superintendent B Suresh, Jailer Shrimantgouda Patil, night shift warders Ninganna, Yamanappa Karubara, Basavaraj Metri, Savitri Talakeri, and Azeem — for dereliction of duty.

Prisoner Mastan was the one who first planned the escape from jail, and to implement it he took Santosh and Sagar along with him. Mastan had made a perfect plan for everything. After escaping from jail, they planned to work in a factory in the Zahirabad industrial area of Telangana.

It has come to light that on Monday midnight, after escaping from jail, the prisoners had no money. So they threatened two unknown people walking on the road and took Rs 500 from each person. With that money they had tiffin and escaped from Kalaburagi.

The Kalaburagi and Bidar police are jointly continuing the operation to arrest the mastermind of the case, Mastan, and Sagar. The three convicted prisoners are natives of Bidar. It is suspected that the remaining accused are hiding around Humnabad and Bidar. Hence, police have set up checkpoints at various places and are conducting thorough checks inside all vehicles, including KSRTC buses.