E-Paper
Convict escapes from moving jail van after making hole in its floor
Police are yet to discover the point where exactly the accused escaped, but they suspect that he could have escaped at a traffic signal
A convict, undergoing 12-year imprisonment in a drug peddling case and trial in four other cases, escaped from a moving jail van ferrying inmates from the New Court Complex to the Central Jail, Tajpur Road, here on Friday by making a hole in the floor of the van.
The police are yet to discover the point where exactly the accused escaped, but they suspect that the accused escaped at a traffic signal or a traffic jam.
The accused, Shiv Kumar of Sultanpur of Uttar Pradesh, is a convict in a drug case, lodged against him at the Sadar police station on March 13, 2018. He is serving a jail term of 12 years in the case. The accused is also facing trial in four cases, including burglaries and drug peddling, registered at different police stations. The police had taken him to the court complex along with others in the van for hearing in two cases of burglaries on Thursday. After the hearing, when the police reached the Central Jail, they found the convict missing from the van. The police and the jail staff investigated the matter and, later, they found a hole in the floor of the van ferrying inmates.
Shiv Kumar, assistant jail superintendent, stated 75 inmates were taken to the court complex from the jail for hearing of cases. As many as 55 inmates were taken in the bus, while 20 were taken in a van. In the investigation, they found that Shiv Kumar was sitting on the back seat of the van. He had made a hole in the floor of the van and escaped. The officials are suspecting that a small portion of the iron floor of the van had been corroded and become weak due to rust. “The convict might have been hitting the rusted portion continuously with his feet and it gave way,” they said
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 IPC has been registered against the accused at division number 7 police station. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sudarshan Singh, investigating the case, stated that the police would scan the CCTV cameras installed on the route of the bus to know from where the accused escaped. The other inmates ihe van are also being interrogated if they noticed when he escaped. A hunt is one for his arrest, he added.
