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In a scene straight out of a Bollywood movie, 16 prisoners escaped from the Phalodi jail in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district on Monday after putting chilli power in the guards' eyes.
They then got into a vehicle which was parked outside the prison's gates and sped away.
Phalodi Deputy Collector Yashpal Ahuja said that when he rushed to the jail soon after the incident, he saw vegetables strewn on the floor.
"A female guard was screaming in pain," he said. "Another guard told me that some prisoners escaped after throwing chilli powder and vegetables at the staff.
"I immediately alerted the district collector and efforts were initiated to apprehend the escaped detainees."
The police immediately put up checkpoints on the roads leading to the neighbouring districts - Barmer, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Nagaur. But till Thursday morning none of the 16 were caught.
Police sources said the prisoners who escaped were smugglers and were well-acquainted with the rural landscape. So, it will take days to track them down.
Director-General of Police (Jail) Rajeev Dasot said that four prison staff - Navi Buks, Sunil Kumar, Madanpal Singh and Madhu Devi - have been suspended, after a preliminary investigation showed they were lax in their duties.
CCTV footage showed the prisoners moving about freely before the incident and overpowering the jail staff easily.
Senior police officers also suspect that some of the jail satff may have helped the prisoners escape.
In one CCTV image, two guards are seen standing with torn clothes when senior police officers arrived at the jail soon after the incident.
But in images before that they are seen properly uniformed and offering water to Ms Madhu.
Sources told IANS that Ms Madhu initially claimed that the prisoners threw her down when she tried to stop them - which left her injured. However, she later confessed to Deputy Inspector-General Surendra Singh Shekhawat that she had made it up.
The police have intensified their efforts to nab the 16 prisoners in what is the second biggest jail break in the state. In February 2010, 23 prisoners escaped from the District Jail in Chittorgarh.
A senior police official said: "The escapees made the biggest mistake of their lives as now a case will be registered against them under the legal and administration sections and they will also have to undergo further jail punishments.
"However, the first priority is to nab them. We will issue a warrant under Section 299 and their properties will be seized within the next seven days."
Indo-Asian New Service
"The escapees made the biggest mistake of their lives as now a case will be registered against them under the legal and administration sections and they will also have to undergo further jail punishments." - A senior police official
