MADURAI: The police on Wednesday recaptured four more inmates, bringing all 17 inmates who escaped from the Theni District Jail on Monday night after assaulting three prison staff back into custody. The inmates had pretended that one of them was suffering from an epileptic seizure to trap the guards and carry out their escape plan.

On Wednesday morning, around 100 police personnel intensified their search in the Amachiyapuram hills to trace four inmates: Rejin from Kanyakumari, and Tirupathi, Meenatchisundram and Ponmuthuselvam from Madurai.

The police team recaptured Rejin and Ponmuthuselvam from the hills. The other two, Tirupathi and Meenatchisundram, who are brothers, allegedly fled after learning that police had entered the area where they were hiding. They allegedly assaulted a motorist who was passing by on a motorcycle, seized his bike and escaped, a police source said.

The police then alerted checkpoints in the district and recaptured the two near Uthamapalayam in the evening. “We are investigating in various angles whether they have planned this escape to execute a murder or robbery,” said a police source.

The first five inmates recaptured by the police were produced before the Theni Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday evening and remanded in Theni District Jail until November 10. The eight other inmates were produced before the court on Wednesday evening and remanded in judicial custody in Theni District Jail until November 12. The four inmates recaptured on Wednesday are being questioned at the Allinagaram police station and are expected to be remanded on Thursday.

Meanwhile, tightening the security at the jail, the prison authorities have deployed nine prison personnel on deputation, a day after Director General of Prisons Sandeep Rai Rathore, who inspected the prison and suspended nine personnel for dereliction of duty.

A senior prison official said armed guards have been posted at the two watchtowers at the jail’s entrance and the lapses that led to the escape have been addressed. The authorities have also begun shifting the escaped inmates to other prisons across the State, with three moved to Palayamkottai Central Prison so far and the rest expected to follow on Thursday.