2 murder convicts escape Silchar jail digging tunnel through toilet: Assam police

Two convicts, serving life terms in Assam’s Silchar Central Jail for the murder, escaped by digging a tunnel through the toilet, police said said on Thursday.

The escaped convicts were identified as one Hifur Rahman, a resident of Karimganj and Deep Nunia, a resident of Cachar.

Officials of Silchar Central Jail said that they were kept in single cells and even the guards saw them inside the cell on Wednesday night, however, during Thursday’s headcount, guards realised that they were missing.

“The inmates rushed to the cell and found that they have escaped from a tunnel they dug through the toilet room. We immediately informed the police,” officials said.

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Cachar district superintendent of police (SP) Numal Mahatta, along with a team of senior police officials, rushed to the jail and launched a search operation to nab the convicts. A case in this regard was also registered, said police.

“They managed to escape from the jail last night and we are investigating the matter. A strong search operation has been launched and you will see the result soon,” the SP said.

Rahman was one of the five accused in the murder of a college student in Karimganj in 2011. All the five accused, including a woman, were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013.

Rahman was initially sentenced to death by the Karimganj district court, but moved Gauhati high court, which granted him life imprisonment.

Rahman was brought to Silchar Central Jail three months ago and was kept in a single cell along with another convict Deep Nunia, according to officials.

Nunia was arrested in 2018 for allegedly killing a suspected thief and keeping his dead body in a septic tank. In the same year, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a district court in Cachar.