In a major jolt to already beleaguered Uttarakhand Police, a hardened criminal, who is associated with the notorious Sunil Rathi gang, Amit Malik, alias Bhura, escaped from the police custody while being taken to the court from the prison for a hearing in Baghpat. Bhura was assisted in the daring escapade by five people, including three armed criminals. The armed criminals sprinkled chilli power on policemen and looted police of two AK-47 rifles and one self-loading rifle (SlR).
Heads started rolling in the aftermath of the incident as Ajay Rautela, SSP Dehradun, was transferred while five policemen who were on duty were suspended with immediate effect, the charge against them being dereliction of duty.
The under-trial prisoner, Bhura against whom around 40 criminal cases have been registered in various police stations in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi escaped from police custody being assisted by five criminals supposedly close to him when he was being taken to a court for hearing in Baghpat on Monday morning.
Things, reeking of recklessness, happened around four kms away from the district court in Baghpat. The armed criminals sprinkled chilli power on policemen and looted them of two AK-47 rifles and one self-loading rifle (SlR). Importantly, five armed police personnel, including constables Pradeep, Ravindra, Ilam Chand, Dharmendra and head constable Ganga Ram, had been deployed to keep guard on Bhura.
Police sources said in the wake of the shootout outside Roorkee jail involving two gangs being led by notorious Cheenu Pandit and Sunil Rathi that resulted in three deaths, Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) native Bhura was transferred from Roorkee sub-jail to Suddhuwala jail in August.
Bhura was brought to Baghpat by Dehradun police for a hearing scheduled in court by train from Dehradun on Sunday evening. Policemen had hired a public auto-rickshaw from Baghpat Railway Station. Two passengers were already seated there. At Titri, around four kilometres away from the court, three car-borne people reached. Before they started firing indiscriminately in the air to scare the policemen, two persons who were sitting beside the policemen sprinkled chilli powder on their eyes. Meanwhile, the three criminals who came by car looted the seemingly stupefied police of two AK-47 rifles and one SlR and snatched Bhura from their custody.
Charging them with negligence of duty, a case under appropriate sections of IPC will also be registered against all the five policemen in Baghpat police station, it is learnt. A fresh case against Bhura will also be registered in the same police station.
State Additional State Director General of Police (law and order) Ram Singh Meena said that several teams, including Special Task Force (STF) and Special Operation Group (SOG), have been formed to apprehend the criminal and to recover the looted weapons.
Garhwal Range Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sanjay Gunjyal, Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sweety Aggarwal and other police officers have been deployed in Baghpat. The teams are working in tandem to solve the case, Meena said.
He further said that Bhura had been tagged with around 14 cases in Delhi, 20 in Uttar Pradesh, three each in Uttarakhand and Punjab. Two cases - FIR number (234/10)- sections of 395/342/397/450/412/120B of IPC and FIR number (20/11) sections 2/3 of Gangster Act-have been registered in Dalanwala Police Station, it is learnt.