Fugitive gangster Sheikh Haider, who had fled from the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack on April 10, was brought back to Odisha from Telangana in a flight on Friday. Later, the Commissionerate police produced him in the JMFC Court in Cuttack.The court allowed police to take the murder convict on a seven-day remand from 7 am on April 17 to 7 pm on April 23.
During the remand period, it would be ascertained how Haider managed to flee from the hospital,” Twin City Commissioner of Police Saumendra Priyadarshi said. Priyadarshi said the teams of Commissionerate police managed to zero in on the gangster following a 120-hour operation. At around 4 pm or 4.30 pm, Haider escaped from the hospital after drugging the on-duty guard of the Sambalpur police.Priyadarshi said the Cuttack police received the information about his escape after three hours at around 7 pm. Based on his criminal records, the Cuttack police led by DCP Prateek Singh launched a manhunt and initiated a probe from all angles to track the gangster.
Expediting the investigation with the help of old contacts and CCTV footages, the CP had formed police teams to track the criminal in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana“In this connection, one of Haider’s associates, Yakub, was arrested in Cuttack.
We grilled many of his associates to ascertain his whereabouts. On April 11, we came to know that Haider had a bigger chance to move to Andhra Pradesh or Telangana,” Priyadarshi said.
Based on inputs from technical surveillance team, two police teams led by the Badambadi and Chauliaganj IICs went to Telangana. Haider had fled to Telangana with help of his son and some of his associates living in Hyderabad by a car on April 10. “We ascertained that Haider had moved to Telangana via Andhra by road. Based on information from the technical surveillance team under supervision of Cuttack DCP, we tried to track his locations; and with help of Hyderabad and Telangana police teams, we kept a close vigil on his movement.”
Based on inputs about his presence at a particular place in Sangareddy district, we intercepted Haider, who was riding a motorcycle. The team led by the Badambadi IIC caught him on the way at around 6 pm on Thursday,” he added.“We have detained seven people, including three women, who helped Haider escape”, Priyadarshi added.