A 33-year-old remand prisoner escaped from a government hospital where he was admitted for some health ailment after assaulting a head constable and fleeing with his service weapon, the police said on Sunday.
The remand prisoner was arrested in connection with three cases pertaining to theft and house burglary and was remanded in judicial custody and lodged in a jail in Nizamabad district since January 20 this year, they said.
According to a senior police official, the prisoner had on Saturday morning complained of ill health to the jail authorities and was referred to the the Nizamabad District government hospital where he was undergoing treatment.
"Two policemen -- a head constable and a constable from the reserve force were deputed for guarding him and at around 10 pm on Saturday when the constable went out for dinner, the remand prisoner taking advantage of the alleged negligence of the head constable pounced on him and snatched his weapon and escaped from the government hospital," the official told PTI over phone.
Before fleeing, the remand prisoner hit the head constable on his left hand with butt of the pistol resulting in minor injuries to him, the official said adding teams were on the hunt to catch him from his different hideouts.
Based on preliminary investigation it was revealed that the remand prisoner consumed some unknown tablets in the jail itself resulting in ill-health, the official said.
A case on relevant charges of jumping from judicial custody, assaulting the policeman and illegal possession of the firearm has been registered against the remand prisoner, the official added