Hazaribag: Four jawans of the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP), who are posted at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Central Jail in Hazaribag, were suspended for negligence on Saturday even as the three convicts, who escaped the facility in the early hours of Dec 31, remained untraceable for 96 hours. With it, the number of suspensions in the prisonbreak rose to six.On Saturday, JAP commandant Avinash Kumar suspended constables Subal Yadav, Subhash Mahto, Kartik Gorain and Varun Sao for dereliction in duty.While district police remained tight-lipped about the findings of their probe, sources said the convicts, who were serving life terms, had cut through the window of their cell using a hexa blade. The convicts getting access to the cutting tool has exposed lapses in the jail’s security.Highly placed sources said so far investigation revealed no electric current was flowing through the prison’s perimeter wall and the security wires, which had benefited the inmates to escape. “The entire escape plan was devised keeping in mind the darkness, dense fog and the night-time power outage. The trio were in a cell having 40 inmates. It was well hatched conspiracy involving many,” said a source.Police sources said Deva Bhuiyan, who was among the three convicts, had masterminded the prisonbreak. A resident of Loyabad in Dhanbad, Deva had escaped from the local police station once, Then, he escaped from Dhanbad jail on July 29, 2021, where he was awaiting trial for raping a minor. A Dhanbad court ordered life term for Deva even when he was absconding. Eventually, he was arrested on Dec 2024 and shifted to Hazaribag jail in March last year.The two other escaped convicts are also hardened offenders. Jitendra Ravani, convicted under the POCSO Act was sentenced to 22 years in prison. During his incarceration in Dhanbad jail, Ravani attempted suicide. The third escapee, Rahul Panjwar, was convicted under the POCSO Act in 2024 in a case involving sexual exploitation of a minor on the pretext of marriage and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Police sources said a team met Deva’s mother at his native village in Loyabad. Deva’s mother had met him on Dec 29.Hazaribag SP Anjani Anjan said, “Police teams are working in right direction. There will soon be a breakthrough.”
