LUDHIANA, Oct. 16 — Panic spread through the Ludhiana Central Jail late Tuesday after an undertrial prisoner went missing, prompting an all-night search operation inside and outside the high-security facility.
The missing inmate has been identified as Rahul, 24, a resident of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, who had been living temporarily in Sundar Nagar, Bhamian. He was lodged in the jail in connection with a theft case registered at Division Number 5 police station earlier this year.
According to jail officials, Rahul was last seen during the evening “bandi” — the time when inmates return to their respective barracks — but could not be found during the mandatory headcount that followed. “He was seen around 7 pm sitting in a different barrack and was told to go back to his own. However, when the count was conducted around 9 pm, he was missing,” a senior jail official said.
Jail superintendent Kulwant Singh Sidhu said it was “highly unlikely” that the inmate had escaped the premises. “Given that live electric wires are installed along the entire boundary wall, scaling it is next to impossible. We suspect he may be hiding somewhere inside. The search is ongoing,” Sidhu said.
Teams of jail staff and police personnel continued searching through the night and into Wednesday, but by 5 pm the prisoner was still untraceable. Officials, however, did not dismiss the possibility of an external escape and said simultaneous searches were being carried out outside the facility.
The incident has raised serious concerns over internal surveillance and security protocols at one of Punjab’s most heavily guarded prisons. Senior officials from the jail department are expected to conduct a review and submit a detailed report on possible lapses.
Meanwhile, Ludhiana police have been alerted, and checkpoints have been set up across the city and nearby areas to monitor vehicle movement and track any possible leads.
