On October 3, 2025, Raja Sahani and Chandrakant Kumar, both from Bihar, had escaped from Choudwar jail by scaling the boundary wall of the prison. (Representational image generated by AI)Almost a year ago, the high-security Choudwar jail in Odisha’s Cuttack was rocked by a prison break.Two undertrial prisoners, accused of murder and loot, had escaped early in the morning. The then jailor was transferred for ‘dereliction of duty’. After a few months, the accused were tracked down and arrested again.Now, a fresh twist has emerged in the case.Police have arrested the senior superintendent of the prison for allegedly manipulating the minute book, prison record and signature of the former jailor, Santoshini Dash, to make it look like the jail break was her fault.The senior prison official, Sujit Kumar Roul, was arrested late Sunday evening on charges of forgery committed for cheating and to harm someone’s reputation, and forgery of official records.Police sources said Roul’s arrest was on the basis of a complaint by Dash, who alleged that Roul had forged her signature in the official records to put the blame of the jailbreak on her.Cuttack deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Rishikesh Khilari said the Orissa high court had earlier rejected Roul’s anticipatory bail.On October 3, 2025, Raja Sahani and Chandrakant Kumar, both from Bihar, had escaped from Choudwar jail by scaling the boundary wall of the prison – hours after Dussehra festival celebration on the premises. Both the accused were arrested months later, from outside Odisha.Story continues below this adOver a week after the incident, Dash was transferred for ‘dereliction of duty’. Dash lodged an FIR against Roul on January 17 based on which the police registered a case and started an investigation into alleged manipulation of the jail’s minute book and entry-exit registers.Dash, in her complaint, alleged that the official in-out register of the prison was tampered with and manipulated to falsely depict the continuous presence of Roul within the jail premises though a police probe found that he had visited the jail for a short period on the evening of October 1 and the morning of October 2.Dash also accused Roul of forging her signature to make it look like the charge was handed out to her while the latter had gone out on personal work on October 2.Dash also alleged that she was being pressured into withdrawing the complaint registered by her.Story continues below this adAccording to police, Roul didn’t turn up for questioning and cooperate with police when they asked for submission of all prison records as part of the investigation. On August 17, Roul also filed a complaint with the police claiming that the minute book of the jail had gone missing.Though Roul had earlier moved the Orissa high court that gave him interim protection in March this year, it rejected his prayer for anticipatory bail following which his arrest was made on Sunday, said police sources.Police said the investigation is on and if needed, more officials will be questioned in the days to come. Day after Roul’s arrest, director, prisons, Susanta Nath visited the Choudwar jail on Monday, though the exact reason for his visit is not clear yet.Sujit Bisoyi is a Special Correspondent with the Indian Express and covers Odisha. His interests are in politics, policy and people’s stories. He tweets at @bisoyisujit87 ... Read More