Security staff foil Presidency jail-break bid

KOLKATA: The security personnel of Presidency Correctional Home early on Monday foiled a jail-break attempt by Maoist Dipak Kumar alias Rajesh Shaw and dacoity accused Shamim Howladar, who tried to open the locks with a set of keys, which they fashioned out of wire, nails, paper and adhesive. The two reportedly fitted a mirror to an iron rod and poked it out of their cells so that they could have a better look into the keyhole.
The rod-mirror innovation, however, go them caught. The two conspired to slip out of the prison around 1.30-2am, when the security personnel’s shift changed. As Dipak in his cell 2 and Shamim Howladar in cell 33 flashed torches on the mirrors, apparently to have a clear view of the keyholes, the reflection alerted the securitymen. They rushed to the cells and caught them. Though Dipak refused to admit to the plot, Howladar broke down during interrogation by the jail authorities.
Presidency jail superintendent Debasish Chakraborty said, “The accused were caught when they were fiddling with the locks.” He has lodged FIRs against Howladar and Dipak for hatching a criminal conspiracy to break jail. An inquiry is on to find out how the two laid their hands on the nails, wires and other items they used.
A structural engineer, Dipak, alias Telegu Dipak, was a close aide of Kishenji or Koteswar Rao, the man-in-charge of Red movement in Jangalmahal. He came to Bengal from Andhra Pradesh nearly 15 years ago. After evading the police for years— he didn’t even carry a mobile—he finally walked into a trap after Kishenji’s death.
Dipak hatched the jail-break plot, while execution lay largely on Howladar, a master burglar, who had escaped from prison even last year. Howladar apparently took the keyholes’ impression with a soap and made the keys. He claimed he needed 10 minutes to open any lock with a wire.
An interrogation revealed that Dipak told Howladar that once they escaped, they would go to Maoist-controlled Chhatrishgarh. Dipak promised Howladar a “life he could not dream of” in Chhatrishgarh.
Maoist Dipak Kumar hatched the plot and roped in burglar Shamim Howladar, who made keys out of wires, nails, paper and adhesive. They also fitted a mirror to a rod and poked it out of their cells to take a better look into the keyholes.