Seventeen undertrial prisoners overpowered prison guards and escaped from the Thekkampatti sub-jail near Andipatti here, the police said on Tuesday. The incident happened late Monday. However, four of them were recaptured shortly after the major jailbreak.The inmates had pulled off a coordinated escape by faking an epileptic seizure. A few prisoners in the shared cell called out to the warden on duty, claiming an inmate was severely unwell and needed immediate assistance, the police said. When prison personnel unlocked and entered the cell to help, the inmates launched a sudden, violent assault, overpowered the security staff, leaving three officers injured and fled the premises.A massive multi-district and interstate manhunt has been launched across this southern state, and neighbouring Keralam police have also been alerted. Active combing operations are under way across the border in the forest patches of the Western Ghats and the Idukki district.On Tuesday morning, police said they have re-arrested four of the escapees who have been identified as Praveen Kumar, Silambarasan, Raja Sikandar, and Rajkumar, while the 13 fugitives remain at large.Inspector General of Police (South Zone) Vijayendra Bidari has formed 17 special teams to track the escapees and also intensified vehicle checks in the neighbouring Dindigul district too, as many of the undertrials belong to Madurai and surrounding areas. Local police have been put on high alert. A high-level investigation is under way to probe the severe security lapse at the sub-jail facility, a source said.#WATCH | Theni, Tamil Nadu: Police intensifiy the search for escaped undertrial prisoners from Tamil Nadu’s Theni sub-jail.Security personnel conducting intensive checks at bus stands across the Kavi Vilakku area following the jailbreak. https://t.co/Egie8zXP7v— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2026Polictical reaction pour inThe incident has triggered a sharp political row in the state, with the opposition parties targeting the ruling TVK, calling the jailbreak a humiliating security failure and criticising Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay over the state’s law and order situation.AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the news that 17 prisoners have escaped from Theni district jail is “shocking.””The law department has already become a laughing stock due to the corruption in the appointment of lawyers and court cases against the government. The electricity department is mired in a power purchase scam and frequent outages. Now the prisons department has joined the list. The highlight of this is that one minister is handling all three departments,” Palaniswami said in a statement.”The whole town is laughing at the administrative qualities of Minister R Nirmal Kumar,” Palaniswami said, taking a swipe at the minister and recalled that two prisoners escaped from the Puzhal Jail in Chennai.”It seems that this government and the minister do not have time for all that,” he remarked.Flaying CM Vijay on the law and order situation, Palaniswami said when the prison itself is not safe, with the prisoners attacking guards to escape, how can the common man be safe on the roads under this regime?BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy said, “The Theni jailbreak is a humiliating failure of the TVK government and a direct indictment of CM Vijay’s administration. Seventeen undertrial prisoners escaped from the Theni sub-jail on the night of 26–27 October 2026 after the most basic of ruses. All were held in one cell. While one faked a seizure, the rest waited. Staff opened the door and were attacked as the inmates walked out, while Grade II personnel Thangapandi suffered a head injury.” This was not a high-risk breakout. It was a crude fraud that succeeded because prison security under the TVK government is in a state of collapse, he said on ‘X’.