TIRUPATI: In an interesting development in the sensational melodrama that unfolded in Hyderabad over what has now come to be known as the `Rajya Sabha ticket deal,' S.M. Khan, said to be an associate of Mallik, the proprietor of a Delhi-based school chain, allegedly gave the Chittoor police a slip within minutes of his arrest.

It may be recalled that the duo, suspected to be `masterminds' behind the episode, had escaped the Income-Tax and police dragnet, also in Hyderabad by reportedly vanishing from their hotel room minutes before the raid party could storm in.

It may be mentioned here that news trickled down that S.M. Khan, could possibly surface any moment in Chittoor district at his in-law's house in Nadimpalli village in the Yerravaripalem mandal, 60 km from here. In fact, according to reports reaching here, he did arrive at his wife Fathima Bee's house in the village at around 7-15 a.m. and was subsequently taken into custody in connection with the case.

The police said after the arrest, as Khan boarded his Scorpio van, the search party was escorting him on motorcycles to the Yerravaripalem police station for further interrogation. But, en route he is said to have stopped his vehicle at the residence of a president of single window society and was engaged in `discussions' inside the house even as policemen waited. Meanwhile he was said to have told the police that he wanted to collect some tablets from his vehicle and sought their permission. It was at this stage, the police said that the accused heaved himself into the vehicle and `sped away.'

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