The lone accused in one of the biggest seizures of poppy husk in the country escaped from the custody of the Madhya Pradesh Narcotics Cell on Tuesday night by breaking his handcuffs.
Identified as Papparam Vishnoi, the accused was arrested on July 18, along with 97 kg of poppy husk worth `7 crore concealed in a container under 450 fertliser bags.
He was remanded to the custody of the Narcotics Cell and on Tuesday night he escaped by breaking his handcuffs, the police said. Narcotics Cell Inspector Avnish Shrivastava said the cell has launched efforts to nab the accused. Coordinator of an NGO, Anti-Drugs Movement, Surendra Sethi said the incident has put a big question mark over the working style of the Narcotics Cell and demanded a high-level probe into the matter. Only one accused was nabbed by the cell in such a big drug haul and that too manages to escape from the police custody in just four days, it is amazing.
The office where the accused was kept was the one where he was alone captive, there patrolling was also going on, in these circumstances it looks amazing that the accused managed to fled by breaking iron handcuffs. This clearly indicates that there is something fishy and that needs to be investigated, he added.
Sethi asserting that department officials may be involved in the escape of accused demanded high level probe of the incidence. Meanwhile, officials of the narcotics cell have kept a mum over the issue.