Physically challenged inmate plotted Theni jailbreak
Madurai: Around 1pm on Tuesday, police caught Linga Prasath, who had escaped from Thekkampatti sub-jail in Theni along with 16 others. He hid in a govt polytechnic college about 200 metres from the jail, watching the manhunt unfold. Police pieced together the escape plan hatched by Linga Prasath after questioning all 17 recaptured inmates separately.
Linga Prasath could not go farther than 500m due to a physical disability While the other escapees headed for the forests.
“We initially suspected all other escapees, but not him,” said a police officer. Prasath had begun floating the idea of a jailbreak for the past few days before escape, after his bail pleas were repeatedly rejected, said a senior police officer who interrogated the prisoners. His luck ran out when he boarded a share auto driven by an alert driver. However, little did the police know then that this unassuming ganja peddling suspect was the mastermind behind the whole plan. Unlike the others, Prasath did not venture into the forest. He remained in the polytechnic building, which police teams ignored assuming that the escapees had fled into the forest.