Daring 1995 Vellore Fort Escape Saw 43 LTTE Militants Flee Through Tunnel

Forty-three hardcore LTTE militants, including four women, escaped from a special camp in the Vellore Fort on August 13, 1995, after digging a 153-foot-long tunnel from a Tippu Mahal bathroom to the moat.

The Breakout And Arrests

The elaborate escape came to light after two separate incidents in Chennai on August 15, 1995, where suspects bit cyanide capsules to avoid capture. Police stopped two men on a cycle-rickshaw in T. Nagar, leading to one suspect dying instantly by suicide, while a plainclothes policeman at Egmore Railway Station noticed a suspicious group of 11 waiting for a Madurai train, resulting in another suicide via cyanide. Authorities soon connected these suspects to the banned Sri Lankan Tamil outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Official Reaction And Prior Incidents

The breakout shocked authorities because the camp was guarded by five watchtowers and two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force assisting the Tamil Nadu Police. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa met with Chief Secretary N. Haribhaskar and Director-General of Police V. Vaikunth to plan a recapture strategy. The North Arcot-Ambedkar district Superintendent of Police and camp security officers faced suspension, a ₹10,000 reward was announced, and retired Madras High Court judge Justice T.N. Singaravelu led a judicial inquiry. Prior security breaches at the same fort included an 18-militant escape in November 1992 and a 1991 riot where a 21-year-old militant named Indiran died in police firing.

Investigation And Inspection

The militants used old and rusted pipes and improvised tools to dig through the fort's rocky foundation. Journalists inspecting the site on August 19 saw the 1-1/2 foot by 1-1/2 foot entry point on the first floor of the Tippu Mahal and the 3-foot by 3-foot exit point located between the fort and moat walls on the western side. Commandos Sathya and Perumal demonstrated that crawling through the zigzag tunnel took about three minutes.

Context

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam operated as a militant organization fighting for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka before being banned in India in 1991 following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. High-security detention facilities holding such high-profile prisoners typically face strict protocols, making underground tunneling methods rare and difficult to execute without insider lapses or prolonged undetected effort.