Pune, Nov 21 (IANS): A dreaded gangster convicted of murder to serve life imprisonment escaped from the Yerwada Central Jail in Maharashtra's Pune, officials said here on Tuesday.

The convict has been identified as Ashish Bharat Jadhav, with the jail tag of C-949, originally hailing from Maval and booked by the Warje-Malwadi Police for killing a man in 2008.

He was later sentenced by a Pune Court to undergo life imprisonment and had been lodged in the barrack No. 4 at the famed YCJ Open Prison.

Presently assigned the duties of handling the ration department in the prison, Jadhav was ‘missing’ in the prisoners’ head count on Monday evening.

After a frantic search at several locations inside the YCJ campus, the authorities finally concluded he had ‘escaped’ and lodged a complaint with the nearby Yerwada Police Station.

An official said that a manhunt has been launched to trace Jadhav in Pune city, Maval and other areas and also probe is on to ascertain the involvement of any insiders or outsiders in his daring escape.

Meanwhile the YCJ has tightened security in and around its precincts, especially the Open Jail and monitoring the movement of all inmates at the historic prison complex.