Haryana orders probe why Nabha jailbreak escapees not intercepted

Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Monday ordered a probe into the lapses by state police who did not intercept the escapees of Sunday's sensational jailbreak at the maximum security Nabha Jail in neighbouring Punjab.

With security agencies tracing the movement of the jailbreak escapees, who included two terrorists and four dreaded gangsters, and pointing out that they moved towards Haryana, the Haryana government has launched an investigation into how the escapees were able to go past the security barricades set up at various places in Haryana, including the state's border with Punjab, to intercept them.

Haryana was put on high alert after 10-12 armed men attacked the Nabha jail, 100 km from Chandigarh, and freed two terrorists and four gangsters. However, the main escaped terrorist, Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) leader Harminder Singh Mintoo was arrested from the Nizamuddin railway station in New Delhi while he was ready to board a train to Mumbai.

Home Secretary Ram Niwas said on Monday that an investigation team has been constituted by Director General of Police "to look into the reasons for failure of police personnel posted at naka (barricade) set up in Kaithal to intercept the escaped inmates from Nabha Jail".

"Disciplinary action will be taken against the erring police personnel," he said.

Two cars, a Hyundai Verna and a Hyundai i20, which were used by the attackers of the Nabha Jail and were used by the jailbreak escapees to flee, were recovered from different parts of Haryana.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had on Sunday evening arrested gangster Parvinder Singh near Shamli in western UP and recovered weapons from him. Another getaway vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner SUV, was recovered from him.

The Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested Mintoo, who had trimmed his bread and hair to change his appearance and travelled by car and bus to reach Delhi via Haryana.

Ram Niwas said that nakas had been set up in the state to intercept the escaped inmates, including Mintoo. "The Haryana and Delhi Police had swung into action immediately after getting information in this regard from Punjab," he said.