Rajkot: A carefully planned escape by a group of juvenile detainees triggered a massive search operation in Rajkot on Sunday after 11 boys fled the zonal children observation home by allegedly breaking open an iron gate and damaging CCTV cameras inside the facility. While one of the escapees — a 16-year-old Pakistani boy — returned to the home within hours, police teams nabbed four others late in the evening and continued search for the remaining six juveniles.The escape came to light around 9am, when authorities discovered that a group of detainees had managed to flee from the facility, which houses children in conflict with the law. The district administration and police immediately launched a coordinated search operation, forming multiple teams to track down the absconding juveniles.Rajkot district collector Om Prakash said the breakout appeared to have been planned in advance. According to preliminary findings, some of the juveniles allegedly created a diversion by pretending that one of them had suffered an injury, drawing the attention of the staff and guards.“Some children distracted the guards by faking an injury. The iron gate was huge and heavy. It might have taken the collective efforts of many boys to break it and escape,” Prakash told reporters. He added, “Out of the 10 juveniles on the run, four were nabbed from outside Rajkot by evening. Now only six remain absconding.”The observation home was housing 54 juveniles at the time of the incident. Officials said several of them were facing charges for offences that carry prison terms of more than seven years, making the security breach a matter of concern.Sources said the escapees were aged between 16 and 17 years. Besides the Pakistani detainee who returned, three juveniles were from Rajkot district, two from Kutch, and one each from Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Ahmedabad and Botad.Police have begun examining CCTV footage and other evidence to reconstruct the sequence of events and determine whether there were any security lapses that facilitated the escape. Investigators are also looking into whether the breakout involved prior planning among the detainees.Jagdish Bangarwa, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said extensive efforts were underway to trace the missing juveniles.“We have formed 11 teams and are working in coordination to nab the juveniles on the run,” Bangarwa said.
