The investigations into the murder of two undertrials in jail van took a new twist on Thursday when the investigators found that the attackers Neeraj Bawania gang also used ‘sua’(ice-pick) and surgical blade for killing Paras alias Goldi and Pradeep alias Bhole inside the van. This leads to another lapse on the part of Delhi Armed Police (DAP) as they should have checked the prisoners properly after producing them in the court.
Earlier, police had claimed that Paras and Pradeep were beaten to death in the van while they were being taken back to Tihar from Rohini court on Tuesday.
Tihar authorities have also questioned the third battalion of DAP, entrusted with ferrying of the undertrials, for not frisking the prisoners while taking them back to jail. According to the procedure the escorting policemen have to conduct the frisking of the prisoners once at deodi (entrance or exit gate) of the jail when they come to take them for court. Here, Jail authorities also conduct frisking before handing the prisoners to the policemen. After the court hearing, the prisoners are kept in the court lockup that is manned by DAP. During this time, they are also allowed to meet with their family members, friends or relatives. Here, the escorting policemen again check them before putting them in the van for taking them back to the jail.
The twin murders of Paras and Pradeep, the two key members of Neetu Dabodia gang had taken place while they were being taken back to Tihar on Tuesday. Bawania and his men attacked Paras and Pradeep with ice-pick and surgical blades. They also pinned them on the floor of the bus and trampled repeatedly on their head and throat, said the source adding the weapons have been recovered from the bus.
The investigators suspect that Neeraj Bawania and his gang were handed over the ice-pick and surgical blades when they were in the court lockup. They have also questioned Bawania and his men about when and where they succeeded in procuring the weapons. Deputy Inspector General (Tihar) Mukesh Prasad told The Pioneer that this is very common practice by the undertrails when they go for court hearing. “This is very common. Whenever such undertrials go for hearing they return with some prohibited items like tobacco, gutka, pan masala etc. Sometimes small blades are also recovered from them,” said Prasad.
The Pioneer on Thursday had reported that the CCTV camera compulsory in the van was dysfunctional in the vehicle. The escorting police team should be led by an inspector level officer but an assistant sub inspector (ASI) was leading the team escorting the notorious gangsters back to jail on Tuesday.
Sources said that the alarm bell which was installed in the bus to tell the driver about any emergency was also found to be defunct. Though, the DAP has already ordered an internal probe into the incident, it still blames Tihar administration for not informing DAP about Neeraj Bawania and Paras’s history.