Among those who made good their escape were Bhagvat Kale and his cousin Saheb Kale, the accused in the Patil family murder case in Kalyani Nagar, and history-sheeter burglar and suspect in Mangala Shevde murder, Santosh Ovhal.

The police van, which was carrying 60 accused, had left the court around 5.45 p.m. and wound its way via Sancheti Hospital chowk, Engineering College chowk and Mariaai Gate chowk.

A team of four armed policemen -- assistant sub inspector Kokare, head constable Patel and two constable -- was accompanying the van. Its driver was Tilshidas Ramrao Sankpal.

The van had reached themain gate of the Khadki War Cemetery when some prisoners set afire a shirt soaked in petrol. The prisoners were carrying petrol in a small can, which was later recovered by the police.

The police suspect that the escapade was well planned. Top police officials suspect that petrol was obtained from accomplices somewhere near the court or when the van had halted for a signal on the way.

The van driver said he halted immediately after the prisoners started screaming. By then the entire rear portion of the van, where the prisoners were, was filled with smoke.

Before the policemen could alight from the front seats and reach the rear of the van, some prisoners had broken open the rear doors and started running.

A mini stampede ensued as passers-by panicked, started screaming and running helter-skelter. Taking full advantage of the chaotic situation, some prisoners disappeared in the wild bushes in front of the cemetery. Some others jumped inside the cemetery.

The policemen could not open fire because ofthe crowd in the area as a large number of onlookers had thronged to the spot immediately.

Showing rare presence of mind, van driver Pawar jumped inside the war cemetery and apprehended a fleeing prisoner.

Some passers-by tipped off the police control room about the incident. The control room tipped off Khadki police who rushed a police team led by sub inspector Namdeo Yedge to the spot.

Half an hour later, 45 prisoners were regrouped by the police and taken to the Yerawada jail in two vehicles summoned from the Pune police headquarters at Shivajinagar.

Some residents of the nearby 8, Mula Road slums claimed to have witnessed four prisoners fleeing towards the Mumbai-Pune highway. They said the prisoners had told them that they were running away from a major fire. Two of them took a wrong turn, lost their way and had to ask directions to get back onto the highway, they said. What intrigued them, they said, was that they had covered their face with their shirt.

Within an hour of the escapade, thePune police launched a massive manhunt to track down the absconding accused. Teams have been formed to search the escapees. They are led by deputy commissioners Uddhav Kamble, Chandrakant Ughade, Ramrao Pawar and Prakash Pawar, assistant commissioners D.S. Tompe and B.Y. Bastawadkar and inspectors Sopan Jamdade, Vilas Jadhav and Surendra Patil.