Tripura: Militant serving life imprisonment escapes from central jail

A member of the banned NLFT, who was serving life imprisonment in a murder case, escaped from the central jail in Tripura's Sepahijala district, an official said on Tuesday.

The disappearance of Swarna Kumar Tripura of the outlawed outfit from the central jail came to light this morning during the roll call of inmates by the authorities concerned, Sepahijala District Magistrate Nagesh Kumar said. 

''The militant was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty in a murder case in South Tripura's Santirbazar area and was lodged in the central jail. All the police stations were alerted after the incident. A massive search operation is underway to arrest the convict,'' he said.

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The militant had escaped twice from the central jail in 2016 and Kanchanpur sub-jail in 2022.

Sepahijala Superintendent of Police Bogati J. Reddy visited the central jail to take stock of the situation after the incident.

An inquiry has been initiated to find out how the prisoner escaped from the high-security jail premises, he said, adding the CCTV footage is also being checked.

A senior police officer said it appears that the convict escaped from the jail premises during the wee hours of Tuesday.