A group of six prisoners escaped from the Jowai jail on September 10 after they overpowered the staff there, and five of them reached Shangpung village on Sunday where they were attacked by a mob.
In a disturbing incident, four undertrial prisoners who escaped from a prison in Meghalaya were allegedly lynched by a mob in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district on Sunday. According to reports, one of the undertrials who was killed was named 'I Love You Talang'.
As per reports, a group of six prisoners escaped from the Jowai jail on September 10 after they overpowered the staff there, and five of them reached Shangpung village on Sunday, about 70 km away, a senior officer said.
Around 3 pm of Sunday, when one of the prisoners went to a tea shop to buy food, he was identified by the locals and the entire area was alerted, village headman R Rabon told PTI.
A large number of people turned up and chased the group of prisoners to a nearby forest. A purported video of the incident showed angry villagers, armed with sticks, apprehending the prisoners and beating them mercilessly.
Four prisoners died in the attack while one managed to escape, Rabon said. Officials said that Ramesh Dkhar managed to escape from the mob, while the sixth prisoner was nowhere to be seen during the attack.
According to the police, two of the prisoners who died had been arrested and were suspects in the murders of taxi drivers in August. As per a report in Hindustan Times, the names of the five escapees are I Love You Talang, Ramesh Dkhar, Rikamenlang Lamare, Shidorki Dkhar, Lodestar Tang. I Love You, who was reportedly killed along with three others, was involved in several criminal activities including carjacking, murder. He and Ramesh Dkar had been under arrest for the twin murders of taxi drivers. The sixth was a convicted murderer, Marsanki Tariang, who was serving rigorous imprisonment. He was not with the group at the time of the attack.
Superintendent of Police of West Jaintia Hills BK Marak said police officers are at the spot and "conducting spot inquiry and other necessary formalities". A case has been registered in the Jowai police station against the prison staff and five of them have been arrested so far. Among the arrested prison staffers are one head warden and four wardens.