Uttarakhand Police has rushed a team led by a high ranking official to Punjab to bring the notorious fugitive Amit Malik alias ‘Bhura’ on police remand after seeking permission from the court to interrogate him on cases registered in the State. Gangster Bhura along with his aide Sachin Khokhar was arrested by personnel of Punjab Police from Patiala on Saturday. The State DGP BS Sidhu confirmed this on Sunday. He informed that a team headed by Special Task Force (STF) DIG, Ajay Prakash Anshuman has left for Punjab.
The STF DIG would interrogate Bhura and his aide Khokhar so that the weapon looted by the gangsters during the audacious and successful attempt to free him, are recovered. The police team would also try to extract information has to how Bhura succeeded in escaping from the police custody. The beleaguered police department would try to put missing links in place in the famous escape story which brought great shame to the Uttarakhand Police.
Sources revealed that the police team has prepared an elaborate questionnaire for Bhura and Khokhar. The questionnaire reportedly contains as to who helped the gangster in his escape in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. More than 50 criminal cases are registered against Bhura in various police stations of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
On December 15 last year, Bhura had escaped from police custody while being taken to the court in Baghpat where he was taken in connection with a murder case. The gangsters managed to give the armed escort of Bhura a slip by reportedly sprinkling Chili powder in the eyes of the cops. In the sensational escape the gangsters were also able to get away with two AK-47 rifles and one self-loading rifle (SlR). Then SSP Ajay Rautela paid the price of Bhura’s escape as the state government removed him unceremoniously. Five policemen of the escort team were immediately suspended. The state police faced much flak after the incident as questions were raised about its efficiency.
Bhura a member of dreaded Sunil Rathi gang was arrested by the police in August last year in connection with the sensational shootout incident outside Roorkee jail. Stung by the escape of Bhura a special police team of state police camped in NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh for months but was clueless about his whereabouts.
The state governments of UP and Uttarakhand had announced a reward of Rs 5 lakhs each on Bhura’s head. The Uttarakhand police during the course of investigation of the case revealed that around 16 criminals were involved in the escapade drama. Police had arrested Samar Pal, Babi Tomar, P Kumar and Mohammad Gauri alias Mohammad Saddam, Arvind Rohila and Ravi Kumar till date. The police was able to recover one AK-47 rifle from the arrested criminals.