Both are unrelated incidents that occurred within a span of 24 hours. Chennai: Two inmates — a Nepalese undertrial and a convict serving a sentence in a Pocso case — escaped from the Central Prison at Puzhal, raising concerns about jail security in Tamil Nadu .
Suresh, a convict in a Pocso case registered by Maduravoyal police in 2019, escaped from a prison-run bazaar around 10.30am. The last jailbreak at Puzhal was on Dec 23, 2023, when a 32-year-old woman escaped by blending into a crowd of visitors.
Prison sources said his family from Nepal had settled in Chennai and that he was arrested on charges of stealing money from his employer. Sujith Buhari had been lodged in Puzhal-II for the past two months after being arrested in connection with a theft case registered by the JJ Nagar police. He had been lodged in Puzhal-I and was assigned work at the outlet based on his conduct in prison. He was attending to customers when he escaped. Police have formed a special team to trace both inmates and are examining CCTV footage from the prison premises. They have intensified the checks inside the prison as well. A Jayanthi of Bengaluru, who had moved to Semmencheri with her family five years ago, was arrested for theft and lodged in the special prison for women in Puzhal in Oct.
Prison officials lodged a complaint with Puzhal police on Wednesday.