The spice route to freedom for two undertrials hit a dead-end on Wednesday when they were caught and beaten up by a mob soon after they had escaped from a prison van by blinding the constables on guard with chilli powder.

The fugitive drama was played out near a railway level crossing off Phuleswar station — a 50-minute local train ride from Howrah station — from 3pm to 4.30pm. It ended with the duo being thrashed and stoned by a mob that sent them packing to the Uluberia Subdivision Hospital.

Shibnath Jha and Mohammad Shamim, wanted for robberies in Howrah and Calcutta, were being taken from Uluberia court to Howrah jail when they attacked the guards with chilli powder. Blinded momentarily, the cops could not stop the two from slipping out of the prison van and taking to their heels. But they recovered fast enough to give chase and open fire, drawing the attention of the members of a local club who joined in the hunt and helped trap the fugitives before darkness descended.

“One of the undertrials was caught at once by the local people, while the other took shelter in a bush near the level crossing. The police and locals later caught him as well,” said Hari Kishore Kusumakar, the superintendent of police of Howrah.

Jha and Shamim had been arrested in October for dacoities in Uluberia and Panchla. The inmates of Presidency jail were produced on Wednesday afternoon before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Uluberia where they were sentenced to 14 days judicial custody. They were being taken to Howrah jail on grounds of proximity to the ongoing case.

“We saw two constables running after two men and we joined in the chase,” said Ghulam Ali, the member of a local vigilance group engaged in night patrolling in the area. “One of them (Jha) was immediately trapped between two groups drawn by the commotion, while the other fled along the railway tracks.”

Jha was given a thrashing and then handed over to the police.

Shamim, alias Gulzar, played hard to get as he dived into the bushes bordering the railway tracks. Fearing that he was armed with the service revolver of one of the constables, the mob chose not to follow him into the undergrowth.

Instead, they kept shouting and hurling stones into the bushes from a distance. After an hour, the police and some locals ventured into the bushes and found Shamim lying unconscious, bleeding from a head injury.