Cuttack: Days after two hardcore criminals from Bihar escaped from the high-security Choudwar Circle Jail, Odisha’s prison administration on Monday transferred its superintendent in a reshuffle.
Official sources said Jail Superintendent Santoshini Dash has been transferred to Kantabanji Sub-Jail, signalling administrative accountability following the security breach.
Raghuraj Majhi, the current Jailor of Kantabanji Sub-Jail, will replace her. The change comes as part of immediate measures to strengthen jail security and restore public confidence in the State’s correctional system.
The daring escape of the Bihar-origin prisoners had raised serious questions about internal surveillance and management at Choudwar jail.
“In view of exigencies of public service and administrative requirement, Santoshini Dash, Jailor of Circle Jail, Cuttack at Choudwar, is hereby transferred and posted to Sub-Jail, Kantabanji on administrative ground,” said a notification of the DG of Prisons & DCS.
Raghuraj Majhi, Jailor-cum-Superintendent of Sub-Jail, Kantabanji, is hereby transferred and posted to Circle Jail, Cuttack at Choudwar in place of Santoshini Dash, Jailor transferred. This order shall be given with immediate effect, it said.
It may be noted that two dreaded criminals had escaped from the Choudwar Circle jail 11 days ago and a hunt underway to trace and apprehend them.
The two, identified as Madhukant Rana and Raja Sahani from Bihar, had made a daring escape in the dead of night on October 2, under the cover of Durga Puja celebrations inside the prison.
