The Hindu : Insider's hand suspected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Insider's hand suspected

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 29. Startling disclosures by Sandeep Thakur about how exactly he managed to whisk away Sher Singh Rana, the main accused in the Phoolan Devi murder case from Tihar Central Jail, has raised serious doubts over the security arrangements made by the jail authorities. The police have strong suspicion over the involvement of some insider in the jail.

Sandeep, who was arrested in Meerut on Saturday, disclosed that the police uniform that he had worn did not have the badge bearing the sign of IIIrd Battalion of the Delhi Armed Police. He also did not have any identity card to gain an easy entry into the jail. However, the guard at the jail's gate did not check his identity and let him in.

Sandeep said it was his mere luck that Rana was handed over to him without checking any documents, that too by another inmate, Parvesh. The officials, who were supposed to check the court documents approving Rana's custody, command order certificate and other papers, were allegedly not present when Sandeep was given his custody. This, just because the official concerned had allegedly signed the papers without going through them a day earlier.

Despite the fact that Rana was a high security risk undertrial, the jail authorities put him in a general cell and did not even provide any escort to hand him over to the policemen.

While the Special Cell is investigating the suspected involvement of jail officials, astonishingly, the Crime Branch that had earlier been handling the case could not gather a single vital clue to Rana's get-away.

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