Five of the six convicts who had escaped from the state jail at Rongyek have been arrested

Gangtok, Jan. 12.TT: Five of the six convicts who had escaped from the state jail at Rongyek yesterday have been arrested from nearby forests, where police had launched a combing operation with sniffer dogs.

They were caught within a 10-12km radius of the prison. Yogesh Karki, Prashant Sarkar and Puran Rai were picked up from Saramsa near Ranipool around 8.20 last night. Sekhar Roy was arrested from Changey Senti forest this morning, said the East district police in an official statement. Laxuman Mahaley was picked up from Kopibari at 5.30pm today. Rudra Thapa is still on the run.

All the six are murder convicts but not in the same case. Puran is an aide of Rakesh Rai alias Spiderman. Puran had fled the prison with Spiderman in 2004 but both were re-captured.

Spiderman earned the sobriquet because of his climbing prowess during crimes. Personnel from Sikkim Police, Sikkim Armed Police and home guards had been mobilised to track the fugitives.

Sources said Rudra was among the group picked up at Saramsa. The fugitives had trekked some 6km through the Bhusuk forest after scaling the jail wall. They had reached the crossroads where one route led to Ranipool and the other to Pakyong.

Rudra slipped out from the group when they started towards Pakyong.

Sekhar Roy was arrested from Changey Senti forest, a few kilometres from Saramsa.

Roy had split from the team expressing a desire to see his family in Gangtok. A police team had already been posted before the rented house of Roy in case he visited his family.

Laxuman had sprained his foot and could not walk properly. He had been left behind in the forest and was tracked down with sniffer dogs.

The police said the convicts were possibly aiming for Rhenok-Jorethang which borders Darjeeling district.

A case under Section 224 of IPC (escape from lawful custody) has been registered against the fugitives.

The six had fled the jail yesterday during the one-hour tea break from 1pm to 2pm. They had clambered up to the football field unescorted after they were let out of their cells for tea.

They dismantled the goal post and used the crossbars to make a ladder, using prefabricated bits of bamboo and scaled the wall. They used a pair of pliers to cut through the barbed wire on the top of the prison wall.