Policemen under probe

PUNE, Sept 11: A departmental inquiry was today instituted against the policemen escorting the 15 prisoners who escaped from a van carryi...

PUNE, Sept 11: A departmental inquiry was today instituted against the policemen escorting the 15 prisoners who escaped from a van carrying them on Mula Road on Thursday evening. Two escaped prisoners have already been arrested.

Police Commissioner K K Kashyap has assigned assistant commissioner D S Tompe to probe the possible police involvement.

Preliminary investigations by Khadki police inspector Sopanrao Jamdade have revealed that a murder case accused Bejalal Satyanarayan Gupta had masterminded the escapade. He is said to have drawn support from Santosh Laxman Ovhal, a history-sheeter suspected to be involved in murdering Mangala Shevde at Kothrud. Gupta is a suspect in a murder reported to Lonavala police in 1995.

The chaos started when he set afire his shirt and filled the van with smoke, a FIR lodged by assistant sub-inspector Trymbak Dagadu Kokare said. Two vans MH 12/F 5570 and MH 12/ 9983 were used to carry the 60 prisoners from the Yerawada jail to the district and sessions court at Shivajinagar. However, all the prisoners were crammed into a single van MH 12/F 5570 while returning to the jail in the evening. The intention behind making the sudden change is being probed, additional commissioner M S Maheshgauri said.

Usually a head constable and two policemen are deployed to escort each of the vans carrying the prisoners. However, on Thursday, only four policemen including an ASI, a head constable and two constables was assigned to escort both the vans, he added.

The police are also probing into how the prisoners obtained the petrol which they used in their getaway. Maheshgauri said the talcum powder tin filled with the petrol might have been handed over to the prisoners by their accomplices either on the court campus or while the van had halted at a signal. Many people meet prisoners either while they are being taken inside the courtrooms or while they are put at the lockup on the campus of the court, Maheshgauri said.