Two prisoners escaped from a COVID care centre on the outskirts of Guwahati where they had been lodged with other inmates of the city’s central jail after testing positive for COVID-19.
The incident happened on Thursday night, hours after some 30 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients came out of another COVID care centre in Kamrup district’s Changsari and blocked the adjacent highway demanding proper food and water.
The jail authorities said more than 180 prisoners, including anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act activist Akhil Gogoi and extremist leader Ranjan Daimary had tested positive. Some of them were taken to the COVID care centre at Dimapur, about 30 km east of Guwahati.
“We managed to catch one of the three prisoners who tried to escape. The two absconding are accused in kidnapping and armed burglary cases,” a jail official said.
Another group
On Friday, the police thwarted an escape bid by another group of prisoners among the 175 lodged at the Sonapur centre.
“We have made additional security arrangements to ensure that such incidents do not happen again,” said G.P. Singh, Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order). He added that efforts were on to catch the to two convicts who escaped.
