Taking advantage of being shifted to a temporary jail due to the coronavirus pandemic, three criminals managed to escape from judicial custody in Sonbhadra district.
The police have registered a case and launched a hunt for the criminals.
Reports said that the Sonbhadra district administration had made a temporary jail in Robertsganj town of the district. On Wednesday morning, during routine checking, the officials found three inmates missing. When they searched the premises, they found the window grill of the back room of the jail broken. It appeared that the three inmates had escaped through it.
The criminals were identified as Shivnath Yadav (28), a resident of Duddi, Wazid, a resident of Shaktinagar and Sandeep Sharma, hailing from Dala hamlet of the district. While Yadav was arrested for raping a minor, the other two were held for carrying illegal weapons.
It may be mentioned that the temporary jail was created after 17 persons, eight inmates and nine jail officials were found to be coronavirus positive in Sonbhadra district jail.
Meanwhile in Badaun, a wanted criminal, carrying a reward of Rs 60,000 on his arrest, was arrested following an encounter, police said on Wednesday.
The miscreant sustained a bullet injury in his leg during the encounter while a police inspector was also injured.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Tripathi said that the Sadar Kotwali police were conducting a routine check near the Kurau village. Meanwhile, information was received that wanted criminal Mubin, a resident of Saidpur village in Wazirganj police station area, was going to pass through the area.
Two motorcycle-borne suspects tried to escape after seeing the cops after some time. As the police chased them, they fired at the police team. In the retaliatory fire by the cops, the wanted criminal sustained a bullet injury in his leg and was arrested.
Mubin carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest as announced by Farrukhabad district and 5,000 each by Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. He had over a dozen cases registered against him under serious sections.
Inspector Ramendra Singh was also injured in the encounter and was admitted to the district hospital.