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Snatcher flees from Pinjore station, caught from UP within 15 hours
A fresh case was registered against the accused, Vishal Sharma, 27, of Pinjore, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, after he fled from the Pinjore police station
A snatching accused, who had fled from the Pinjore police station on Sunday after hoodwinking cops on duty, was caught from Uttar Pradesh within 15 hours of escape.
A fresh case was registered against the accused, Vishal Sharma, 27, of Pinjore, hailing from Uttar Pradesh. Also facing a legal action is Home Guard Satnam Singh, who was on duty when Vishal escaped. Satnam was arrested and released on bail soon after.
According to police, Vishal was arrested for snatching a mobile phone and ₹700 cash from a Pinjore resident, Hari Om, on April 21.
Om, a daily wager, was at Yadavindra Gardens, Pinjore, around 2 pm. When he reached near Jal Mahal, two boys restrained his arms and twisted them, while the third snatched his phone and cash from his pocket, before fleeing.
A case under Section 379-A (snatching) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Pinjore police station and one of the accused, Vishal, was nabbed the next day (April 22).
He was lodged at the Pinjore police station for the night and Home Guard Satnam was deployed to guard the lock-up.
Escaped on pretext of going to toilet
As per investigators, the next morning, around 5.45 am, Vishal told Satnam that he needed to visit the toilet. When Satnam brought him out of the lock-up and took him to the toilet, Vishal pushed him and escaped from the police station by climbing out through the kitchen’s roof.
As Satnam raised the alarm, police personnel present on night duty ran out to catch Vishal, but he managed to make good his escape.
A case under Sections 223 (escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant) and 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the police station on the complaint of head constable Tejpal, who was on night duty, and different teams were constituted to arrest Vishal.
Within 15 hours, a team traced him to Uttar Pradesh where his father lives. He was brought back to Panchkula on Monday and produced before a court that sent him to judicial custody.
Police said soon after escaping from the police station, Vishal hired an auto-rickshaw and later boarded a bus to flee to his native village.
They said Vishal was a drug addict and he, along with his two accomplices, had been executing snatchings to fund their drug addiction.
Meanwhile, police arrested Vishal’s accomplice, Satwinder, 22, on April 23. He was sent to one-day police custody by a local court to recover the snatched mobile phone.
