3 prison staff suspended for jailbreak in Kathua

Three prison staff members including Assistant Deputy Superintendent Surinder Kumar, Havaldar Ganesh Dass and night duty In-charge Surinder Singh have been suspended for security lapses which led to the escape of murder accused undertrial Suran Singh from Kathua Jail this morning, officials said.

They were suspended soon after the visit of Director General Prisons Naveen Agrawal to jail, where he reviewed security arrangements following the incident.

Kathua jail is high security prison, where foreign militants and separatists have been languishing for years.

Suran Singh, who was lodged in Kathua jail in connection with murder of villager, escaped from the prison early this morning.

The jail security has been reviewed and the required measures have been ordered to ensure such incidents do not occur in future, Agrawal told reporters.

Meanwhile, police have launched a hunt to arrest Singh at the earliest.