3 Sada jailbirds bolt to freedom
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, AUG 4
In a sensational jailbreak, three inmates of Sada sub jail, Mormugao, escaped from the judicial lock-up by drilling a hole in the cell toilet in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The accused, Hitler Fernandes (43), who has spent almost half his life in jail for twin murders, along with two undertrials, Abhijit Patil (27) and Seby Ferrao (23), accused in theft cases, easily escaped from a hole made in the toilet in Cell Number 13, in which 18 inmates were housed. (Related report on pg 2)
However, it would have been a big embarrassment for jail authorities if the alleged serial killer, Mahanand Naik, had joined the fugitives, as he was also housed in the same cell.
Two of the escaped inmates were earlier involved in jailbreak. Hitler Fernandes is known for it, as earlier he had escaped twice from Central Aguada Jail and committed his second murder in Karnataka.
This is the second jailbreak of Seby Ferrao, as earlier he was involved in the infamous Margao jail break in 2007 during the Ganesh Chaturthi pooja.
It is learnt that Hitler never escaped alone, as in his earlier attempt, he had escaped in group, while in Wednesday’s incident also, he is suspected to be the prime accused, as he was the dominant inmate in his cell.
The trio broke the dead wall of the cell toilet and drilled a nearly 16-inch diameter hole and tied a rope to a toilet tap and got down easily. Later, they escaped from the second grill gate, which is of lesser height in comparison to the compound wall of the jail.
According to jail sources, the incident occurred at about 2.30 am. The jail guard on duty became aware of the jailbreak after about 5 minutes as only 15 of the 18 inmates were present in the cell.
When the jail guard, Vashu Pednekar, checked the cell, he noticed a big hole in the cell toilet, through which the trio escaped.
Incidentally, a police van from Mormugao reached the jail immediately after the incident and alerted the police about the jailbreak. They immediately swung into action and set up police check posts at all strategic locations in and around Vasco city.
Jail Superintendent and Deputy Collector Levinson Martins informed that at the request of Goa Police, CISF security from MPT deployed its sniffer dogs that suggest the trio jumped over grilled gate, while Goa Police dog squad too tracked the same route.
Martins further informed that the 10 cells have a capacity of 115 inmates, but jail authorities had accommodated 131 inmates.
“The jail guard is posted outside the cell and after every two hours, his duty rotates”, said Martins.
Martins admitted that security needs to be strengthened outside the jail, as only one policeman is posted outside.
Top officials, including IG Prison Mihir Vardhan, SP South Allen D’Sa and Vasco DySP Mahesh Gaonkar were present to inspect the jail early Wednesday morning.
“We immediately alerted the police and set up nakabandis at all check posts and prime locations in Vasco”, DySP Gaonkar said adding “Vasco police has registered an offence against the trio and alerted other police stations in the State”.
It may be recalled that in the last one decade, there have been as many as 9 jailbreaks at Sada. Some of the fugitives, however, could not enjoy freedom for long and were re-arrested a short while later.
