Five cops have been suspended for their negligence in the incident of escaping two death row convicts from Dhaka court on Sunday.

Additional Commissioner (Detective) Harur or Rashid disclosed the information in a briefing at DMP media center on Monday afternoon.

The police personnel include an inspector, a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector and two constables, he added.

Two members of banned militant outfit Ansar al-Islam, who were sentenced to death in Jagriti Publications publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan murder case, escaped from the lock-up of Dhaka court on Sunday.

The escapees are Mainul Hasan Shamim, 25, son of late Abdul Kuddus , hailing from Chhatak Upazila of Sunamganj and Sakibur, 34, son Abu Taher, hailing from Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat, said Harun or-Rashid, Chief of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

 “The convicts sprayed something on the eyes of two policemen and escaped while they were being taken to the court. We’re searching for them in the nearby areas. This is the first time something like this has happened in the country,” said Harun.

Publisher Dipan, son of Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq of Dhaka University, was hacked to death in his office on the second floor of Aziz Supermarket at Shahbagh in the city on October 31, 2015.