Patna, Jan. 1: East Champaran resident Geeta Devi is worried about the safety of her only surviving son and herself after the escape of Prajit Singh from Buxar Central Jail in the wee hours of Saturday.

Prajit is among five convicted prisoners who escaped from Buxar Central Jail yesterday. Police have launched a frantic search to nab them.

Geeta (65), a resident of Sangrampur, around 30km south of Motihari, is apprehending reprisal from the fugitive don, as her son Prakash (25) had pursued the triple murder case, which led to Prajit's conviction.

A Motihari court had awarded Prajit (33) death penalty for murdering three members of Geeta's family in 1998. Later, then President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil had commuted Prajit's death sentence to life term after his family moved a mercy petition.

Prajit, a resident of Indragachhi village in East Champaran, had killed Geeta's minor son and two daughters besides critically injuring her husband, Pawan Kumar Thakur, following a dispute. Prajit was close to Thakur's family.

Her only surviving son, Prakash, runs a garments shop in Sangrampur. "I am very upset after Prajit's escape from jail. He may target my family again," said Geeta, adding that she was living alone after her husband's death last year.

"We are at God's mercy. Even the licensed weapon, which was procured in my husband's name, has been deposited to the arms licence shop after his death," said Geeta.

The case of a rape survivor's family is no different. Deodhari Rai, one of the five escapees, was serving sentence in a rape case. A resident of Babu ka Asoyiya village under the jurisdiction of Marhaura police station in Saran district, Deodhari was awarded 20 years' imprisonment in 2012.

A relative of the rape survivor, who came to know about Deodhari's escape from newspapers on Sunday, said: "Police should act fast to arrest him. He may target the victim." The girl's family has also sought police protection.

The other escapees - Sonu Pandey (Buxar), Upendra Sah and Sonu Singh (both residents of Bhojpur) - face charges of kidnapping and murder. While Pandey was awarded life term for killing Satyendra Pandey in October 2012, Sah and Singh were serving sentence for double murders.

Buxar superintendent of police Upendra Kumar Sharma said intensive raids had been launched to re-arrest the escapees. Many police teams have been assigned the task, he added.