The body of one of the five undertrial prisoners (UTPs) who had escaped from Assam’s Morigaon jail on Friday was found floating in a water body on Monday morning.

All the five UTPs were booked under the stringent POCSO Act which carries a minimum jail term of 20 years if convicted.

An official told the media that accused Abdul Rashid, in his thirties, was hiding in a country boat on the Sunduba beel, about 30km from the jail in Morigaon district and about a km from his village.

A beel is a natural water body.

The police had cordoned off the waterbody on Sunday after his suspected location was tracked near the beel from mobile signals emanating from his wife’s cellphone.

An official, while thanking the Morigaon police for locating the whereabouts of Rashid by tracking the mobile signals, said his body was found floating in the beel around 5am.

Police were informed by local villagers about the body.

He also said Rashid was an “expert” in holding his breath underwater using bamboo stick/straw.

It has also emerged from the questioning of his wife that Rashid had fractured one of his legs while escaping from the jail along with the four other Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 accused, after cutting through the window grille of their jail cell and “using blankets, bedsheets and lungis” as a rope to scale the 20-feet high boundary wall of the jail.

Another official said the other UTPs on the run will also be tracked soon as they will be able to get crucial information from Rashid’s wife and her cell phone.