Tamil Nadu CM Vijay Suspends Theni Jail Deputy Superintendent After Jailbreak, Orders Security Overhaul

Tamil Nadu chief minister Vijay on Saturday suspended the deputy jail superintendent at Theni district prison and ordered wide staff transfers after 17 inmates escaped from the facility earlier this week. He also directed all prisons in the state to enforce foolproof security and tighter surveillance.

ANI reported that N Ramalingam, the deputy jail superintendent at Theni who had served there since August 2024, was dismissed for failures in prison administration and security monitoring.

Security Crackdown Expands

A total of 17 personnel were placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry was ordered against them, ANI reported. The state government also transferred Dr Sandeep Rai Rathore, director general of police for prisons and correctional services, on Thursday.

Police have since recaptured all 17 Theni inmates, PTI reported, citing police on Thursday. Authorities have begun transferring them to high-security correctional facilities across the state.

How Inmates Escaped

On Monday night, the 17 inmates at Theni district prison pretended that one prisoner was having an epileptic seizure, PTI reported. When a guard opened the cell to help, the inmates overpowered and assaulted him.

They then seized the main gate keys, opened the prison entrance and ran into nearby forested areas. The group fled from Aranjanaipudur on a motorcycle towards Uthamapalayam, then borrowed a stranger's phone in Ammachipuram to contact an associate who supplied money, clothes and vehicles.

Police deployed 17 specialised teams, five special task force units and four Tamil Nadu special police battalions. They also used specialised drones in daylight to scan dense forest patches and identify suspect locations, police said.

Puzhal Escape Fallout

Two convicts lodged in the high-security prison at Puzhal near Chennai also escaped on October 20 and were caught after a two-day search by seven police teams. The two incidents came within a week.

In the aftermath, Tamil Nadu minister R Nirmal Kumar acknowledged “procedural lapses” and announced plans to strengthen prison security through CCTV surveillance, PTI reported. Five escapees were arrested and produced before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday evening, after which they were remanded to judicial custody until November 10.

Eight more were produced before a court on Wednesday and remanded till November 11. The remaining prisoners were produced before court on Thursday.