New Delhi: A rape accused, who was brought from Bahrain to India, gave the Delhi police a slip at the Indira Gandhi International airport, prompting a blame game between CISF and the police.
The accused, identified as Amandeep Singh, was brought to Delhi from the Gulf country on December 20 at 4.55 am.
The police said Singh was stopped at the immigration department as a lookout circular (LOC) was issued against him and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed at the airport. He had been on the run since April 2020.
"The CISF personnel were on the way to handing him over to the Delhi Police when he fled from their custody by jumping from counter number 33 in the arrival section of the immigration department at about 10 am," an officer told PTI.
As one of the officers escorting Singh went to the washroom, the accused escaped. Per the FIR, CISF staff was on duty.
"Singh was in the custody of CISF staff on duty. Now it has been learnt that he escaped from custody at 1000 hours while a CISF guard went to the washroom around 0957 hours. Singh exited the arrival immigration area illegally by jumping the counter number 33 gate (Indian Side). Thus Singh cheated Indian Immigration by illegally escaping from the arrival Immigration area. Therefore, a case may be registered against him under relevant sections of law," FIR stated.
{{/usCountry}}"Singh was in the custody of CISF staff on duty. Now it has been learnt that he escaped from custody at 1000 hours while a CISF guard went to the washroom around 0957 hours. Singh exited the arrival immigration area illegally by jumping the counter number 33 gate (Indian Side). Thus Singh cheated Indian Immigration by illegally escaping from the arrival Immigration area. Therefore, a case may be registered against him under relevant sections of law," FIR stated.
{{/usCountry}}Per the agency, CCTV footage shows Singh walking from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2.
The CISF, however, countered the Delhi police and denied any lapse on its part.
"It is pertinent to mention that no entry details were made regarding the LOC pax (Singh) by Immigration officials in the register at arrival," CISF chief spokesperson Shrikant Kishore said, adding the accused was not in the force's custody.
Efforts are on to locate the missing accused.
With inputs from PTI