Ten boys, detained for various offences, escaped from the government-run observation home for juveniles on Kamarajar Salai here in the early hours of Tuesday. However, police were able to nab four of them.
The police said 10 of the 14 boys lodged in a cell managed to bend the iron rod and grille in a window and came out through the gap. Then they climbed a tree and jumped over the 12-foot-high compound wall in the back side of the home. The boys were aged between 14 and 18 years.
Three guards from the Armed Reserve Police and a private watchman were present on the premises when the incident occurred. A police officer said all the four were in the front side of the home at that time.
In a similar fashion, seven boys had escaped from the home two months back. But the police managed to nab only five of them.
Among the boys who escaped on Tuesday, one was from Dindigul, two were from Virudhunagar district and the others from Madurai district. While one of them had been detained for selling ganja and one for figuring in a murder case, the remaining had been named in assault and theft cases. Steps were being taken to intensify vigil by deploying security personnel in the rear side of the home as well, officers said.
