Two inmates escape from women's prison in Kerala, search

Two women inmates of a sub jail here managed to escape after reportedly climbing a tree, police said Wednesday.

This is said to be first such instance of women prisoners escaping from a jail in the state.

Police sources said the two women-- Sandhya (26) and Shilpa (23) are believed to have escaped from Attakulangara Sub jail here around 4.30 pm Tuesday.

Their absence was noticed when a head count was taken.

CCTV visuals of the prison showed the two women moving towards the bathing area around 4 pm.

There are some trees near the prison wall and it is suspected that the two climbed a tree to escape, the sources told PTI.

The two then got into an autorickshaw and fled.

Though police managed to track down the autorickshaw driver, they could not get much details from him, the sources said.

Police also said that since the two are remand prisoners, they were not wearing the prison uniform as convicted prisoners and this also could have helped them.

The two are suspected to have left Thiruvananthapuram city limits, the sources said adding the search for them has been intensified.

The women were behind bars in connection with theft and cheating cases.

Senior police officials, including jail DGP Rishi Raj Singh, visited the prison on hearing about their escape.