Odisha jail superintendent arrested over alleged forgery after prisoner’s escape

The superintendent of a jail in Odisha was arrested on Sunday over allegations of forging official records after two murder accused escaped from prison last year.

Choudwar jail superintendent Sujit Kumar Roul was arrested months after former jailer Santoshini Das accused him of tampering with government records, forging her signature in the jail’s minute book and manipulating duty records to conceal his absence when the prisoners escaped, police officials said.

The arrest came after the Orissa High Court rejected Roul’s anticipatory bail plea and withdrew interim protection against arrest in the case of escape of two undertrial prisoners, Raja Sahani and Madhukant Kumar, from Choudwar Circle Jail on October 3 last year.

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Das had earlier lodged a first information report (FIR) at Choudwar police station alleging that Raul had remained absent from duty without authorisation around the time of the jailbreak and later attempted to create records showing that he was present in the prison.

She also alleged that the official gate in-out register for October 1, 2 and 3 was deliberately altered to show Roul’s continuous presence inside the jail during duty hours.

Roul allegedly forged Das’s signature in the jail’s minute book on October 2. Das alleged that the forgery was intended to fabricate evidence, mislead authorities and shift responsibility for the security lapse onto her.

The case stems from the escape of Sahani and Kumar, who had been lodged in Choudwar jail after their arrest in connection with a fatal robbery attempt in Panikoili area of Jajpur district. On January 4, last year Sahani and Kumar were allegedly attempting to rob a jewellery store in Panikoili when local residents confronted them. The accused allegedly opened fire while trying to escape, killing two people, Neelamadhab Panda and Anil Ray.

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They were arrested and sent to Choudwar jail, where they remained undertrial prisoners in the murder case.

About nine months later, on October 3, they escaped from the prison by scaling its boundary wall, triggering a search operation and scrutiny of security arrangements at the jail.

Kumar was later arrested in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, while Sahani was arrested in Uttarakhand nearly six months after the jailbreak.

The escape prompted an inquiry into the conduct of jail officials and the circumstances that allowed the two accused to flee.