Hunt on for Gujarat kidney racket kingpin: Officers face probe for ‘lapse’

According to police, the officers were taking turns to keep watch on Raut and the officer doing so dozed off when Ajmer station was approaching.

Two days after kidney kingpin Sanjay Raut alias Amit escaped from Anand police custody, Superintendent of Police Saurabh Singh Thursday initiated a preliminary inquiry into the lapse on the part of three officers of the department who were escorting Raut on the train back from Delhi when he escaped at Ajmer station.

Facing much embarrassment after Raut’s escape while he was in custody, Singh has initiated a preliminary inquiry into the incident that occurred between 2 and 3 am on Tuesday morning as the team of officers was travelling with Raut onboard New Delhi-Ahmedabad Swarna Jayanti Express. According to police, the officers were taking turns to keep watch on Raut and the officer doing so dozed off when Ajmer station was approaching.

Singh told The Indian Express, “It was callousness on the part of our officers that has cost us so dear. We had worked so hard to arrest him and we were very close to cracking the bigger aspects of this case when this unfortunate incident occurred. During his interrogation, Raut had revealed a lot of details and to verify the same, it was necessary to record the statement of a man in Delhi, who was not available on the first visit the police team made with Raut.”

Singh said that the preliminary inquiry into the role of the officers — headed by Crime Branch Police Inspector Haresh Vora — will also look into the aspect of a possible foul play in the incident.

“When we inquire into something, we look into all possible angles. Although given the previous record of my officers, I am inclined to turn down a possible sabotage. However, we are sitting across the table and trying to understand what happened,” Singh said, adding that a new team of investigators will take over the case this week.

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