Haridwar prison break: Three inmates planned to scale wall, one failed as ladder fell
Haridwar, Oct 13: Two prisoners who escaped from Haridwar district jail had hatched the plan with a third inmate, who also tried to scale the prison wall with them but failed as his ladder fell, police sources said on Sunday.
The three had planned the prison break about a week before a Ramlila event in jail which they took advantage of to escape, they said.
Police, however, are yet to find any leads on the whereabouts of the two prisoners who managed to escape.
Pankaj, who is serving life imprisonment, and Ramkumar Chauhan, an undertrial in a kidnapping and ransom case, escaped from the prison on Friday night. Six jail officials, including jailer Pyarelal, were suspended for negligence after the matter came to light.
Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Doval formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which will be led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Jitendra Mehra, on Friday night to re-arrest the prisoners as soon as possible.
The police sources said preliminary investigation revealed that Pankaj and Ramkumar had planned to escape with another inmate, Chhotu. The three planned the prison break about a week before the Ramlila performance.
Taking advantage of the fact that the prison staff was preoccupied with preparations for the Ramlila performance, the three tied two ladders together using a piece of cloth and put it next to the wall. Pankaj and Rajkumar managed to successfully scale the wall. But when Chottu started climbing the ladder, it fell and he failed to escape, the sources said.
Ten teams have been deployed to nab Pankaj and Rajkumar. The teams are yet to find any clues about their whereabouts, police said.
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India lose to Australia by 9 runs, in difficult position to reach semifinals in women's T20 WC
Sharjah, Oct 13: India lost to defending champions Australia by nine runs in their last group match to find themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the semifinals of the women's T20 World Cup, here on Sunday.
Chasing 152 for a win, India ended at 142 for 9 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur top-scoring with 54 not out off 47 balls. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma chipped in with 29 and 20 respectively.
India ended their Group A campaign on four points after two wins and two losses.
Australia, who topped the group with all four wins, qualified for the semifinals while New Zealand (4 points) need a win against Pakistan on Monday to make it to the last-four stage.
Opting to bat, Australia were restricted to 151 for 8 with opener Grace Harris top-scoring with 40 off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry chipped in with 32 each.
For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets apiece while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil got one each.
Brief Scores:
Australia: 151 for 8 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 40; Renuka Singh 2/24, Deepti Sharma 2/28).
India: 142 for 9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 54 not out; Annabel Sutherland 2/22, Sophie Molineux 2/32).
