300 Communist Prisoners Escape From Indian Jail
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEW DELHI — Nearly 300 communist prisoners overpowered guards and escaped from a prison in restive eastern India yesterday, police said.
The superintendent of police, Rahul Sharma, said 299 of 377 inmates fled from the Dantewada prison, 350 miles south of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state. The jailbreak occurred while dinner was being served.
“The inmates overpowered the prison guards and fled amid gunfire,” Mr. Sharma told the New Delhi Television news channel.
Mr. Sharma said three prison guards and two inmates were wounded in the shooting. He described those who escaped as “supporters” of leftist insurgents in the region.
Police reinforcements were searching for the escapees in darkness, he said.
Eastern India is a stronghold of communist rebels who have been fighting for more than two decades demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor.
Thousands of people have been killed in the insurgency.
