A 19-year old suspect in multiple robbery cases escaped from Puzhal Central Prison on Tuesday morning. He was arrested in November last year.
The youth, Pradeep Kumar, was lodged at Borstal School that is functioning out of the Puzhal prison complex.
Youth in the 19-21 age group are lodged in the school.
On Tuesday, warden Bharat Kennedy took six inmates of the school to clean the Borstal School's visitors’ room, situated close to the main compound wall, sources said.
“After cleaning the visitors’ room, the other inmates and the warden left, while Pradeep went up to the terrace above the room. He then managed to leap on to the top of the 12-ft.-high main compound wall,” police said.
There are no barbed wires on the Borstal School’s wall and hence, he was able to jump down from it, police officials claimed.
“He then scaled another five-ft.-high wall and ran into the main road. Some policemen saw him trying to escape and tried to chase him but in vain,” police sources said.
Pradeep is a resident of Athipattu, Ponneri in Tiruvallur district and was arrested by the Minjur police. “There are separate wings for convict, remand and women prisoners in addition to the school on the Puzhal complex. The inmates of Borstal School are not allowed to mingle with the prisoners in other sections. They are given education and moral lessons,” said a prison source.
Crime teams have been formed to track down Pradeep, who reportedly was involved in robbing people at knifepoint, sources added.
