At least 10 juvenile inmates escaped from a remand home in Ara in western Bihar amid chaotic events following the death of another inmate on Friday.
A manhunt was launched to nab the escapees, said officials.
“Taking advantage of the commotion that erupted after an inmate was found hanging in the bathroom, 10 other inmates escaped from the remand home after breaking open the main gate. Search is on to locate and bring back them to the remand home,” said Ravi Shankar Verma, superintendent in-charge of the remand home located at Dhanupara in Ara of Bhojpur district. “There are 87 inmates in the remand home and 14 of them are quarantined,” he added.
The inmate whose body was found hanging in the bathroom was among those quarantined. He had been lodged in the remand home since October 6 in a kidnapping case. “He had eloped with a girl of the same village to Delhi and later after local police mounted pressure on us, we handed them both to the police,” said a family member of the dead youth from the neighbouring Buxar district.
Earlier in September 2017 , as many as 34 juveniles had escaped from a remand home in Munger district after cutting metal grills of the main gate. However, 11 of them had returned later.