Arnab Ganguly TT, and PTI Nabha, Nov. 27: Two Khalistani militants and four alleged gangsters escaped from a Punjab jail this morning, freed by outside accomplices in police uniform who had tricked the guards into opening the gate before firing a volley of bullets.
The lightning fast operation left no casualties although police claimed to have fired back. But three hours after the 8am drama at Nabha jail in Patiala, nervy cops fired at an all-woman orchestra's vehicle that had jumped a police picket 35km away in Samana, killing 24-year-old band member Reena.
In the evening, police claimed to have arrested one of the alleged gunmen, Parminder Singh of Jalandhar, 216km away at Shamli town in Uttar Pradesh and promptly declared him the "mastermind" of the jailbreak.
The six escaped undertrials ---- who include Khalistan Liberation Force chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, his associate Kashmira Singh and alleged mobster Vicky Gounder ---- remain at large along with the rest of the 10 accomplices.
Punjab police chief Suresh Arora, grappling with the question how a high-security prison was breached so easily, indicated collusion by jail staff. "There was a conspiracy and insiders had a role," he said.
Under fire from the Opposition, the government of poll-bound Punjab formed a special investigation team, announced a Rs 25-lakh reward for information, and ordered a departmental inquiry into "security lapses".
It sacked the superintendent and deputy superintendent of the jail, said to have been absent at the time, and suspended the additional director-general of jails. Sources said just 50 of the 200 prison staff were on duty during the escape.
Eyewitnesses said four SUVs had screeched to a halt before the prison, two right in front of the gate and two a short distance away.
"Half-a-dozen men got off while four remained at the drivers' seats. All those who stepped out were in police uniform except one who was handcuffed," said a 15-year-old bystander.
The visitors told the guards they were bringing in a prisoner, Arora said.
"The guards opened the gate. Some of the men pulled out guns from under blankets and began shooting," the bystander told the media.
Arora said the police guards fired back, and promised to probe why their resistance remained "ineffective". He said the attackers fired 35 bullets: some officers said the number was closer to 100.
As the police, in a tizzy after the jailbreak, rushed to seal Punjab's borders and sanitise its highways, a Swift Dzire bearing a Haryana number whizzed past a check-post on the Patiala-Gulha Cheeka road despite orders to stop.
A constable identified as Shamsher Singh fired, killing Reena, one of the five band members in the car. A young man on a motorbike too was hit but will survive.
Parminder alias Painda was arrested at a check-post with a self-loading rifle and three other firearms and has confessed to his involvement in the jailbreak, Uttar Pradesh additional director-general of police Daljeet Singh Chaudhary said.
"He fought with the police when they dragged him out of the SUV, almost snatched a cop's revolver and began running, but was overpowered by people from a nearby market," an eyewitness said.
Some officers said the escaped prisoners appeared to have fled towards Karnal and Panipat in Haryana; others had them headed to Nepal via Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
Villagers at Kaithal in Haryana, some 70-80km from Nabha, tonight reported an abandoned car with locked doors, prompting forensic teams and a bomb squad to be summoned.
"The car bore a Punjab registration number. Another number was also pasted under the number plate," Chaudhary said. "We are probing if it was used in the jailbreak."
Police sources said Parminder had fled from Nabha jail in March, and may have come into contact with Khalistani militants there. He had been arrested on the charge of killing a sub-inspector.
Sources said that military intelligence had alerted the Punjab home department in May about jail inmates carrying out criminal activities outside, but the input was ignored.
Mintoo had been arrested in November 2014 after being deported from Thailand. He is an accused in 10 terror cases, including a 2008 attack on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the recovery of explosives from Halwara air force station in 2010.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party demanded the sack for deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the home portfolio.
Amarinder Singh, Punjab Congress president and former chief minister, claimed the "ease" with which the jailbreak was carried out suggested "connivance" of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal.
Sanjay Singh, the Aam Aadmi Party's minder for Punjab, said: "Law and order has collapsed in Punjab."
Ruling ally BJP did not risk any public comment but many of its leaders expressed unhappiness at the law-and-order situation.
BJP sources said Union home minister Rajnath Singh had spoken to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir and advised increased security at prisons. Sukhbir has alleged a Pakistani hand.
A high alert has been sounded in Punjab and Haryana, with security stepped up around railway stations, airports, inter-state bus terminuses and other places.
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