Two prisoners escaped from Assam’s Silchar Central Jail in the wee hours of Thursday by digging tunnel through the toilet of the cell that they shared. The dreaded criminals, identified as Hifzur Rahman and Deep Nunia, were both convicted in different murder cases.

Police have said that a man hunt has been launched to capture the men who are both residents of Barak Valley.

Hifzur Rahman was one of the six accused of murdering a college student, Ahrar Ahmed (Naz) in Karimganj in 2011. The famous Naz Murder case shook the entire Barak valley anda situation got out of control as people took to streets of Bhanga and Badarpur in protest of the murder. Curfew and crpc144 had to be imposed.

In the Naz Murder case, Karimganj court found six persons guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2013. They were Selim Ahmed, Hifzur Rahman, Rajani Talukdar, Sultan Ahmed, Hussain Ahmed and Raju Ahmed. All are residents of Bhanga locality in southern Assam’s Karimganj district and are accused in several criminal cases including kidnapping, murder, car theft and dacoity in Barak Valley areas.

Hifzur was brought to Silchar Central Jail three months back and was kept in a single cell along with Deep Nunia.

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Deep Nunia was arrested in 2018 for allegedly killing a suspected thief, his partner and keeping the dead body in a septic tank in his residence. In the same year, Nunia was sentenced for life imprisonment by a district court in Cachar.

The escape of the dangerous criminals from Silchar Central Jail has jolted the Assam’s Cachar police.

DC Cachar Rohan Kumar Jha, IAS, SP Cachar Numal Mahatta and other officials were said to had rushed to Central Jail Silchar.

Meanwhile, the jail break has also raised a big question on the jail security arrangements.