Escape of 389 prisoners after breaking the jail, who is behind it?
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Published: 03 Oct 2024, 11:03 am

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Escape of 389 prisoners after breaking the jail, who is behind it?
Photo: Collected

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The time is November 2005. On a quiet Sunday evening, the house of a journalist in Bihar suddenly received a phone call. There was a panicked voice on the other end of the phone.

"Maoists attacked the jail. People are dying! I'm hiding in the bathroom' - said a prisoner on the other end of the phone with a trembling voice. Gunshots echoed in the background between his words.

He was calling from a jail in the poverty-stricken district of Jehanabad. At that time, Jehanabad was the stronghold of left extremists.

This red brick colonial jail is crumbling in places. The prison spread over an acre of land was crowded with overcrowded inmates.

The prison's 13 barracks and cells were described in government reports as dark, damp and filthy. Built for approximately 230 people, it housed 800 prisoners.

In the late 1960s, the Maoist insurgency that started in Naxalbari, a village bordering Nepal in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, spread to large parts of India, including Bihar.

For nearly 60 years, guerrillas (also called Naxals) have fought against the state to establish a communist society. At least 40 thousand people lost their lives in this movement.

In India, these left extremists are identified as Naxalites and Maoists at different places in India.

It can be said that Jehanabad Jail stood on a sort of gunpowder pile. Along with the Maoists, members of their class enemy Hindu upper caste's own death squads were also imprisoned there.

Almost all of these accused involved in incidents of mutual brutal violence were awaiting trial. Like many jails in India, some inmates in Jehanabad had mobile phones for which they had to bribe guards.

The prisoner was whispering to the journalist on the phone that this place is full of rebels. Many are already leaving.

389 prisoners, including several rebels, escaped from Jehanabad Jail on the night of 13 November 2005. It was India's and possibly Asia's biggest jailbreak at that time. At least two people were shot dead at that time. Police rifles were looted in the chaos.

The incident was also mentioned in the United States State Department's 2005 Terrorism Report. It said during the incident, the rebels abducted 30 people from the prison who were members of the anti-Maoist group.

Indian police said that the mastermind of the jail escape incident is rebel leader Ajay Kanu who himself was an inmate of the same jail.

Security in the dilapidated Jehanabad jail was so lax that he kept in touch with his gang members through phone and text messages. Police claim that Ajay Kanu helped those members to enter the jail. However, Kanu countered that the police allegations are not true.

On the night of the incident, the rebels entered the jail dressed as policemen. They came across a dry river behind the prison. Using a long bamboo ladder, he climbed the high walls of the jail and started firing from the rifle.

The jail cells were open that night due to cooking delays. The rebels entered and opened the main gate of the jail. According to eyewitnesses, the guards on duty looked on helplessly at that time.

Of the prisoners who escaped, only 30 were convicted in related cases. The remaining inmates of the jail were awaiting trial. That night they walked straight out of the Jehanabad jail gate, then disappeared into the darkness.

Eyewitnesses said that the whole operation was over in less than an hour. The Jehanabad jailbreak exposed the state of law and order in Bihar and the intensifying Maoist insurgency in one of India's poorest regions.

The rebels had perfected their plan. They chose the time to execute the jailbreak plan when the security system was lax because of the elections in that state.

Local journalist Rajkumar Singh clearly remembers the night of the incident.

He got out of Jehanabad Jail after receiving a call from the prisoner. Trying to reach the office quickly by pushing the motorbike through the deserted city.

The prince remembers the sound of distant gunshots wafting through the air. That night the rebels also tried to attack a nearby police station.

As he turned towards the main road, he saw a scene in the dim light of the road.

Armed men and women in police uniforms block the way. They are shouting using megaphones, we are Maoists. But we are not against the people. We are only against the government. This jail breaking is a part of our protest.

The insurgents planted bombs on the side of the road. Meanwhile, some of the bombs had already exploded, causing damage to nearby shops. Panic spread throughout the city.

Journalist Rajkumar Singh somehow reached his office by speeding his car. By that time, a second call came from the inmate of Jehanabad Jail. The prisoner on the other end of the mobile phone asked, everyone is running. What should I do?

In response, the prince told him, if everyone runs away, then you must also run away.

Journalist Rajkumar Singh left for prison through a deserted road. Then he entered the prison straight through the gate. On reaching there, he found the prison door open, food scattered all over the kitchen, and the cell door open. There was no jail guard or policeman to be seen.

In one room, two injured policemen were lying on the floor. He notices the bloodied body of Bare Sharma, the leader of the upper caste of the landlords' own assassin squad known as the Ranbir Sena. Bare Sharma himself was a prisoner of that jail. Later the police informed that he was shot by the insurgents while escaping.

Some of the handwritten leaflets left by the rebels were scattered on the floor, and some were stuck to the walls.

One such pamphlet stated, "Through this symbolic move, we want to warn the state and central governments that if they arrest revolutionaries and struggling people and keep them in jail, we also know how to free them from jail by carrying out a Marxist revolution."

A few months ago, journalist Rajkurer met Ajay Kanu in Patna, the capital of Bihar. The police believe that this rebel leader is the mastermind of the jailbreak incident.

After the Jehanabad jailbreak, the media portrayed the man as 'Bihar's most wanted' who commands both 'fear and respect' from the police.

Police officials told how the insurgent 'commander' took control of the entire operation as soon as his accomplices handed over the AK-47.

Dramatically, the report described how Ajay Kanu was using the weapon 'with skill'.

According to the police, he quickly changed the magazine of the gun before shooting at Barre Sharma.

Fifteen months after the incident, in February 2007, he was arrested from a railway platform on his way from Dhanbad in Bihar to the city of Kolkata.

Almost two decades later, Ajay Kanu has been acquitted of all but six of the original 45 criminal cases filed against him.

Most of the cases filed against him, including the murder of Bare Sharma, are related to jail break incidents. He also served seven years in jail in one of these cases.

Once known for his 'scary personality', Ajay Kanu speaks volumes, which is unexpected. He answered in sharp, chosen words. He downplayed his role in the large number of jailbreaks. But this is the case that was once in the headlines.

The rebel leader of the time very subtly turned his attention to another war. He wants to make a career in politics to fight for the poor and backward caste people.

Ajay Kanu is the son of a so called lower caste farmer family. As a child, he spent days and nights listening to the stories of communist rebellions in Russia, China and Indonesia from his father, who was a farmer by profession. When he was in eighth grade, his father's classmates urged him to take up revolutionary politics.

Ajay Kanu recounted his memories of playing with the local landlord's son after scoring a goal against him in a football match when the so-called upper castes attacked their house armed.

While narrating the incident, he said, I was hiding inside the room after closing the door. They came looking for me and my sister. Houses were destroyed and everything was destroyed. This is how the upper castes used to scare us and hold us back.

Ironically, he led the student wing of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while studying political science in college. But BJP is against Maoism. After graduation, he co-founded a school. The owner of the building where the school was located forced him out.

After returning to the village, the tension around his relationship with the local zamindars increased. At that time a local influential person was murdered. He was also named in the complaint lodged with the police in this incident. Ajay Kanu was only 23 years old at that time. Since then he has been hiding.

According to him, since that incident, I have been on the run for most of my life. I left home to organize workers and peasants. Joined and went into hiding as a Maoist rebel.

He joined the extreme left organization Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Kanu said, I wanted the liberation of the poor. My aim was to stand against the tyranny of the upper castes. I have fought for those who have endured injustice and oppression.

In August 2002, he rose to prominence as a rebel leader. The price of his head is fixed at 30 lakh rupees. And if anyone can trace this Ajay Kanu while going to meet his party leaders, then that is a separate reward.

It was in this situation that a car overtook him almost before reaching his destination in Patna.

As Kanu was saying, in a moment some people dressed in white jumped out. Raised his gun and ordered me to surrender. I didn't try to resist—I just gave up.

He says the police moved him from one prison to another for the next three years. They feared that this rebel leader might escape. A senior officer told me, he had a great reputation. He was the sharpest.

Ajay Kanu said that he formed the prisoners' union in every jail to protest against corruption. The aim was to stop ration theft and bribery and to protest against the poor quality of health services in prisons.

He led a three-day hunger strike in a fisherman. According to him, there was a clash. But I keep demanding better conditions.

Talking about this, he painted a vivid picture of overcrowding in Indian prisons. Jehanabad Jail described how it housed more than twice its capacity.

About the situation in Jehanabad, he said, there was no place to sleep. In my first barracks, 180 people were crammed in even though it was designed for 40 people. We developed a system within ourselves to survive.

He says, fifty of us would sleep for four hours and the rest would sit. I used to wait in the dark and talk. At the end of four hours it was the turn of others. This is how we endured life inside the jail.

Recalling the events of that night, he said, "We were waiting for dinner when the shooting started. Bombs, bullets – it was a chaotic situation. The Maoists barged in and shouted at us to run away. Everyone fled into the darkness. Should I have stayed there and died?

However, many are skeptical about Ajay Kanu's 'claims' about the events of that night.

According to a police officer, it was not as simple as it sounds. Why was dinner being prepared so late that day? Meals were usually cooked and served in the evening so that the cells could be closed early. This raises doubts about the internal tension.

Interestingly, many of the prisoners who escaped returned to prison in mid-December. Some of them came voluntarily while others did not. But none of the rebels returned.

Ajay Kanu was asked if he was the mastermind of the jail escape. To this he replied, Maoists have liberated us - to liberate their work.

When the same question was put to him again, he fell silent. Finally, Ajay Kanu mentioned an incident while in jail. His story, however, raises suspicions.

He said a police officer once asked him if he was planning to run away again. Ajay Kanu replied in a sarcastic tone, Sir, does a thief ever tell you what he steals?

His words were floating in the air. These are the words of a man who has always insisted that he had no role in the Jehanabad jail break.