Authorities have begun the process of transferring 17 inmates recaptured after a jailbreak in Tamil Nadu's Theni district to high-security prisons across the state, police said on Thursday, according to news agency Press Trust of India.The search ended on Wednesday after the last two fugitives, Tirupathi and Meenakshisundaram, were captured.Police said the inmates fled from the Aranjanaipudur area on a motorcycle towards Uthamapalayam.In Ammachipuram, they borrowed a stranger's phone to contact associates, who provided them with money, clothes and vehicles. The search involved 17 specialised teams, five Special Task Force units and four Tamil Nadu Special Police battalions.Drones were used during the day to scan dense forest cover and locate the fugitives, police told PTI.
Five of the inmates were produced before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday evening and remanded in judicial custody until November 10.Another eight were produced in court on Wednesday and remanded until November 11. The remaining prisoners captured on Wednesday were scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.After the legal formalities are completed, the inmates will be moved from local lock-ups to central prisons in Salem, Vellore, Cuddalore and Puzhal.Theni Superintendent of Police Praveen Gowtham told PTI that preventing the fugitives from crossing the state borders remained the police's top priority.Investigators are also examining the motive for the jailbreak and whether it was planned by others.The inmates escaped at around 10 pm on Monday after staging a medical emergency by pretending that one of them was having an epileptic seizure.When a guard entered the cell to help, they overpowered and assaulted him, seized the keys to the main gate and fled into nearby forested areas.All 17 inmates have since been recaptured, with court proceedings under way before they are transferred to central prisons across Tamil Nadu.- Ends