LUCKNOW The escape of undertrial prisoner, Aditya Rana, 33, from an eatery on NH-24 highway in Shahjahanpur in the wee hours of Wednesday was suspected to be pre-planned, said police.
It was being investigated whether anybody from the police team helped the dreaded sharpshooter or he got help from his gang members while being brought back to Lucknow from Bijnor by road after a court hearing there. Circumstances and initial probe suggested that Rana planned his escape from police custody before leaving from Bijnor, said officials.
Rana gave a slip to cops when he went to a toilet and fled after scaling its wall, taking advantage of the bushes and darkness behind the eatery. He was lodged in Lucknow district jail for the past few years and taken to Bijnor to be produced before a local court on Tuesday.
The sharpshooter had 41 criminal cases related to murder, attempt to murder, loot and extortion lodged against him at different police stations in Bijnor. The UP police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh on his head in 2017, after his name surfaced in two back-to-back murders in Bijnor in 2016.
Sources in the police department said Rana received money from his family members during his visit to the Bijnor court on Tuesday and used the same to rope in some criminals to facilitate his escape. They said it was also suspected that a vehicle was following the police van in which cops were escorting him back to Lucknow district jail and he used the same vehicle to disappear from NH-24 highway, after escaping from custody.
{{/usCountry}}Sources in the police department said Rana received money from his family members during his visit to the Bijnor court on Tuesday and used the same to rope in some criminals to facilitate his escape. They said it was also suspected that a vehicle was following the police van in which cops were escorting him back to Lucknow district jail and he used the same vehicle to disappear from NH-24 highway, after escaping from custody.
{{/usCountry}}Police teams searched for Rana for nearly five hours after his escape from a dhaba on Hardoi turn in Shahjahanpur district around 1am on Wednesday. Multiple patrol teams were deployed in and around Rausar village where the dhaba was located but they failed to get any clue about him, said an official.
“It was impossible for Rana to flee too far away on foot. He certainly used some vehicle to escape,” he emphasised.
The police lodged an FIR under IPC sections 223 (escaping from police custody) and 224 (causing obstruction to lawful apprehension) against Rana and four cops, including sub-inspector Deepak Kumar, two constables Rinku and Ajay Kumar, and driver Manoj Kumar. They were taken into custody for investigations.