Police have arrested four of the eight inmates who escaped from Dolpa District Jail in Dunai, the headquarters of Nepal's remote Dolpa district, while the remaining four are still at large and search operations continue, Daily Inform IQ reported on Wednesday, November 4.

Source: Daily Inform IQ

Two prisoners were arrested in Rukum West on Tuesday, followed by two more in Tripurasundari Municipality-4 of Dolpa at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday. Dolpa Chief District Officer Junu Hamal said those arrested on Wednesday were Kaliprasad Rokaya of Tripurasundari Municipality-7, Dolpa, and Kapil Pariyar of Nalgad Municipality-9, Jajarkot. The two prisoners arrested in Rukum West on Tuesday were identified as Ram Bahadur BK of Aathbiskot Municipality-10, Rukum West, and Resham Rana of Kumakh Rural Municipality-5, Salyan.

Source: Daily Inform IQ

Four escapees are still being sought: Haribahadur Budha of Tripurasundari Municipality-4, Dolpa; Yagya BK of Barekot Rural Municipality-1, Jajarkot; and Tilak Bhandari of Ward 5 and Aadesh Bhandari of Ward 3 of Aathbiskot Municipality, Rukum West, according to the district administration.

Source: Daily Inform IQ

The eight inmates escaped on the night of October 30 — Kartik 14 in the Nepali calendar — after digging a tunnel beneath the inner wall and the outer compound of the district jail. Reporting on the escape said the men broke through structures along the inner wall and outer compound and dug around a septic tank that lay in their path, and that the breakout came to light at the 6 a.m. headcount on Saturday, when eight of the prison's 17 inmates were found missing.

Source: Niguro

Of the eight who escaped, five were serving sentences in rape cases and three were involved in theft cases; six were serving prison sentences while two were being held pending trial, according to the earlier reporting. A three-member committee led by Inspector Binay Singh, with a representative of the District Administration Office and a staff member of the National Investigation Department, was formed to investigate how the escape happened. The escape came just three days after the prison's duty in-charge was replaced following a drug trafficking incident at the facility, the report said — a sequence that has sharpened questions about supervision at the jail. Police photographs of the escapees were circulated to possible transit points after the breakout, and the search for the four men still at large is continuing.

Source: Niguro