Even before Bity Mohanty grabbed the headlines by jumping parole following his conviction for raping a German woman, at least 44 prisoners of Tihar Jail in Delhi have gone missing in similar circumstances.

The prisoners, all serving life sentence, jumped parole during the last six years and are still missing, the jail has informed the Delhi high court in an affidivit.

Tihar's authorities submitted the affidivit on December 19 following an order of the high court on December 12, which wanted detailed information about prisoners who had jumped parole.

These missing prisoners are all convicts in murder cases and had gone on parole at different times during the last six years, the authorities said in the affidivit to the court. They have not returned so far, they added.

Earlier, hearing a case, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Arun Suresh had ordered Tihar authories to furnish details on what steps have been taken to get the convicts back to the prison.

The jail writes to police authorities from time to time to arrest the missing prisoners, the jail's authorities replied in the affidivit.