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Moose Wala murder accused’s escape: Mansa CIA in-charge part of conspiracy
Punjab Police sub inspector Pritpal Singh, who was the crime investigation agency (CIA) in-charge of Mansa police, along with his aides took gangster Deepak Tinu out of the police station alone in his private vehicle and helped him escape: FIR
The crime investigation agency (CIA) in-charge of Mansa police was a part of the conspiracy to help gangster Deepak Tinu, one of the accused in singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder and an aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, escape from police custody, says the first information report (FIR). Tinu had fled from the custody of the CIA unit of Mansa police early on Sunday. Following this, Punjab Police arrested and sacked the Mansa CIA unit in-charge, sub-inspector Pritpal Singh, who was also a member of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the Moose Wala murder case.
A case was registered against Pritpal and Tinu under Sections (222, 224, 225A and 120-B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Mansa City-1 police station. Around 48-hours after escape from custody, Punjab police are still clueless and have failed to trace Tinu. Meanwhile, police teams are conducting raids in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Mansa police had conducted a massive search operation in Fatehabad of Haryana.
SI Pritpal Singh was brought to the civil hospital at Mansa for medical examination on Monday but the accused official was seen walking freely without handcuffs all the time. Later, he was produced in the Mansa court, which granted five-day police remand of Pritpal to the district police.
Punjab police have also issued look out circular against Deepak Tinu. Inspector general of police (IGP) Mukhwinder Singh Chhina along with Mansa SSP Gaurav Toora on Monday evening interrogated Pritpal Singh for hours.
More people suspected to be involved
The FIR reads that SI Pritpal Singh took Tinu from the CIA police station for the recovery of weapons in a murder case, during which the gangster escaped from his custody. “It is learnt that the accused had escaped from the custody of SI Pritpal Singh under a conspiracy. The CIA in-charge took him alone in his private vehicle. He did not take any other security personnel with him. He along with his aides took Tinu out of the police station alone and helped him escape. More people are suspected to be involved. Charges of helping an accused to escape custody have been found against Pritpal Singh in the investigation,” the FIR reads.
Tinu fled from cop’s official residence
A police official privy to development said that Pritpal had taken Tinu to his official residence in the district administration’s housing complex inside Mansa city in a private car. “Tinu had escaped from his residence, but it is not clear so far how he escaped,” he said. Mansa police on Monday searched Pritpal’s residence and also checking the CCTV footage the area to find out how Tinu escaped and also if there were other people involved.
Interestingly, the house from where Tinu escaped is surrounded by the residences of the senior officials of the Mansa, yet no one has any clue about the escape.
The Mansa police had brought Tinu on production warrant from Tarn Taran district’s Goindwal Sahib jail in a murder case on September 27. Tinu is facing 35 criminal cases, including that of murder, in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Punjab Police had brought him on transit remand from Tihar Jail in Delhi on July 4. Tinu was among the 24 accused chargesheeted in the Moose Wala murder case. According to the chargesheet, Tinu is an aide of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria.
“Tinu was instrumental in connecting Bishnoi with gangster Goldy Brar, believed to be in Canada at that time, through mobile phones for planning and executing Moose Wala’s murder,” police said in the chargesheet.
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