SSB nabs four Nepal jail escapees during intensified patrol in U’khand

Pithoragarh, Sep 14 (PTI) Four inmates who escaped from jails in Nepal during the recent anti-government protests were apprehended in Uttarakhand by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) deployed on the India-Nepal border, officials said on Sunday.

According to a press note issued by the 55th Battalion of the SSB here, the four prisoners from Nepal were caught at the Devtal police post near Jhulaghat when they were illegally crossing the Kali river with the help of a tyre tube.

Dhamendra Chand (25), Tarkaram Luhar (22), Suraj Saud (24) and Asif Pahadi (31) were nabbed by the SSB while patrolling the banks of the Kali river, considered the border between India and Nepal, it said.

The force guarding the India-Nepal international border and police in different states have caught more than 79 people from various locations along this 1,751-km-long unfenced front till now, the SSB officials said on Saturday.

Out of these, about 43 people have been caught along the international border in Bihar, 22 from Uttar Pradesh, 12 from Uttarakhand and two from West Bengal, the officials said.

The SSB caught six inmates who escaped from Nepal's Banke jail amid violence while they were trying to cross into Indian territory at Rupaidiha border in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, officials said on September 11.

Of the four nabbed in Uttarakhand, three are accused of rape and are residents of Baitadi district. The other is a resident of Kanchanpur district who was lodged in jail for murder.

The SSB said, “We have kept the prisoners with us and they are being thoroughly interrogated about the plans of other prisoners to enter India illegally.” The force said that they have informed the Nepalese authorities about the development and after completing the formalities, the captured prisoners will be handed over to them. PTI DPT NB