A day after murder convict Gurtej Singh escaped from the Mansa jail, he was nabbed in Nabha on Thursday afternoon. And, behind it, the police have unravelled a love affair that blossomed behind bars but went wrong later.
Gurtej, who was serving life term, had killed his lover’s husband in 2005. The lover, Roshni, had already served her jail time. Meanwhile, he got involved with another inmate, named Murti, who was in jail in a case of illicit drugs.
While he was already set to be released in a few months owing to a mercy petition, Murti, who had served her sentence, allegedly threatened to implicate him in a rape case. “Murti and Gurtej developed the relationship behind bars, and she had met him earlier this week before he escaped. After getting arrested, Gurtej lamented that, despite his release scheduled after a few months, he ruined his chances by escaping,” said a senior police official.
Mansa senior superintendent of police (SSP) Viveksheel Soni interrogated him at the CIA (crime investigation agency) police station on Friday. “Gurtej was being threatened by one of his known friends that she will implicate him in a false rape case,” he said. “To avoid any such case, he planned the escape. He wanted to go to Delhi.”
But the SSP denied that Gurtej had contacted cops while on the run. Policemen had told HT on Thursday that he had called up and told them after his escape that he would return after committing another murder.