Kathmandu, January 19

A jailbird, who was remanded for investigation into robbery charge, escaped from the high-security Dillibazar prison last night.

Senior Superintendent of Police Purna Chandra Joshi, spokesperson at Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari, said Tika Bahadur Thapa Magar aka Sagar, 30, managed to break the prison by scaling a barbed wire fence of the facility.

“Prison guards had seen two inmates — Tika Bahadur and Bupal Thapa, 27, of Doramba-8, Ramechhap — scaling the fence but the former managed to escape. Police have taken Bhupal under control,” he said.

SSP Joshi said there was no doubt there had been negligence in security. “We have formed a probe panel for investigation into the security lapse and establish why the prison guards failed to foil the jailbreak. Any cop found guilty of assisting the jailbird to escape the prison will be brought to book,” he informed. Meanwhile, police have stepped up search for the escaped prisoner.

Metropolitan Police Crime Division had nabbed Tika Bahadur and Bhupal from Kathmandu on January 10 and February 8, 2017, respectively for their involvement in more than a dozen property crimes. Before their arrest, the duo had robbed a woman of Rs 600,000 cash in Kaushaltar of Bhaktapur on January 6 and later it was found that they were professional robbers.

Police records show that Tika Bahadur and Bhupal had been involved in a number of robbery and theft cases in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Kavre districts for more than 10 years.