Aizawl, May 9 (PTI) Seventeen prisoners convicted in POCSO, NDPS and theft cases were allegedly fraudulently released from Mizoram’s Lunglei district jail using forged court documents and fake release orders, police said in a statement on Saturday.
Two persons – one of them an inmate and the other a part-time jail ambulance driver – have been arrested for orchestrating the forgery racket, the statement said.
The racket came to light on April 27, when R Lalduhawmi, District and Sessions Judge of Lunglei, filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the Lunglei police station.
The discrepancy was noticed during a court session on April 24, when two under trial prisoners (UTPs), Malsawmtluanga and Dokapthanga, appeared before Lalduhawmi.
The duo presented purported release orders from the Lunglei District Court and the Gauhati High Court, claiming they were to be discharged on a Rs 50,000 bond.
Suspicions were raised when the judge noted that she had presided over their hearing just the day before (April 23), and their next hearing had been scheduled for May 8.
Sensing foul play, Lalduhawmi immediately visited the district jail to verify the matter, during which it was discovered that several prisoners had already secured release using forged court orders, the police statement said.
Police launched an immediate investigation and began tracing 15 persons named in the complaint.
Eleven of them were rearrested and sent back to jail by Lunglei police, while one was arrested by Khawzawl police, and one was found to have passed away after being released from the district jail, it said.
Further investigation revealed that a total of 17 convicts, ranging from those serving sentences for POCSO violations, drug trafficking (ND&PS) and theft, had successfully walked out of prison using forged papers between January 30 and March 18, it said.
Police have identified and arrested two main accused in the case — Jeremia Lalthangtura (25), a resident of Aizawl’s Zemabawk locality, who himself was an undertrial prisoner in Lunglei district jail, and C Laltlanhlua (31) of Republic Vengthlang in Aizawl, who was working as a non-regular ambulance driver attached to the jail, it said.
The duo was arrested on May 1 and remanded to judicial custody on May 7.
According to police findings, Jeremia operated the scam from within the prison walls.
He allegedly duped prisoners by promising to secure their release or file appeals through a lawyer known to him in exchange for cash.
The suspects collected between Rs 4,000 and Rs 50,000 per inmate. The money was shared between the two accused, police said.
The investigation further revealed that forged documents were allegedly prepared by Jermia using computers at a xerox and printing shop in Lunglei’s Rahsi Veng locality, as well as an office computer inside the district jail.
Police said that Laltlanhlua would secure the office keys and act as a lookout while Jeremia drafted the fraudulent orders.
These documents were then handed over to jail authorities by Laltlanhlua.
Police said that jail officials released the convicts after receiving the forged court orders, believing them to be genuine, police said.
The investigation into the racket is still going on, they said. PTI CORR RG
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