Tiger Killer Escapes

HYDERABAD, India, 25 November 2006 — A man accused of killing a tigress in the local zoo five years ago escaped from Cherlapalli jail early yesterday. Police have launched a manhunt for the fugitive, Salahuddin, as the director-general of prisons ordered an inquiry into the incident. Salahuddin had confessed to lassoing the tigress and cutting its jugular vein with a knife after dragging it out of her enclosure. He later skinned the animal. Fellow prisoner Chandrasekhar Gupta, who could not climb down from the security tower while escaping. was rearrested with the help of fire fighting personnel. Salahuddin had earlier escaped twice from custody — in 2002 and 2003.