Officials of the Attakkulangara women’s prison launched a search on Tuesday evening after two women inmates pulled off a prison break. Prison DGP Rishiraj Singh is reportedly leading the search operation and had rushed to the prison after the jailbreak was reported.
The inmates have been identified as Sandhya of Varkala and Shilpa of Nagaroor. Both were under trial. While Shilpa was arrested for a theft case, Sandhya was booked in connection with a cheating case. Both were remanded to prison by the Attingal Judicial First Class Magistrate earlier this month.
According to reports, prison officials realised that the inmates were missing at around 5:45 pm on Tuesday, while taking a head count of the number of prisoners before locking them up in cells.
While it is not known how the two women escaped from the prison, senior officials suspect that they somehow scaled the walls of the prison.
As soon as the inmates’ absence was confirmed, the prison officials informed the police and major hubs of transport in the city. The bus stand at East Fort, KSRTC terminal at Thampanoor and the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station were brought under surveillance. CCTV visuals of the two women walking out of the prison have also been captured and circulated.
The police also received information that the two women were spotted by people and are following those leads. The police department is also actively collaborating with the prison officials to nab the inmates.