Moradabad (UP), February 9 Five minors escaped from a government-run observation home here by climbing a boundary wall, police said on Monday. Two of them were later apprehended, while a search is underway for the other three.
Circle Officer (Civil Lines) Kuldeep Gupta said the incident took place around 3 am on Sunday at the Government Observation Home (Juvenile), located under the Civil Lines police station area.
"Two of the five minors have been apprehended by the Civil Lines police. Efforts are being made to trace the remaining three, and raids are being conducted at possible hideouts," Gupta said. The in-charge superintendent of the observation home, Mukesh Kumar, informed the police and emergency services after the escape.
In his complaint, Kumar stated that several staff members, including his fourth-class employees Sumit Kumar and Rohit, constable Ravindra Kumar, and home guards Keshav Kumar, Mahesh Pal Singh, and Adesh Kumar, were on duty when the minors jumped over the wall.
The group includes two minors from the Amroha district, two from the Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand, and one from Moradabad. All five had been brought to the facility earlier this month in connection with various criminal cases.
A case has been registered, and the services of two outsourced employees have been terminated for negligence. A departmental inquiry has also been initiated to examine the conduct of other staff members on duty, they said.
The matter is being taken seriously at the administrative level, they added.