Top militant escapes from Govt hospital

Significantly, while the jail superintendent had sought police escort for shifting six militants to the hospital on February 1, the jail8217;s medical superintendent had referred only five the next day. However, in their requisitions for police escort, neither the jail official nor the doctor had mentioned anything about the militants and the reasons for shifting them to the hospital.

DGP Gurbachan Jagat said that an inquiry has been ordered into the militant8217;s escape. The IGP, Kashmir, will inquire into all aspects of the case.

Interestingly, the shifting of militants from Srinagar Central Jail to the SMHS Hospital had come a day earlier, the Chief Judicial Magistrate was scheduled to decide a police application for shifting the JUM militant leader to the high security Kot Bhalwal prison at Jammu. The court8217;s permission was sought as the militant was facing trial in the court in a number of cases, including the killing of eight people in a bomb explosion outside the residence of the State Works Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar on the Gupkar Road.

Founder of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Shah was arrested by the Border Security Force BSF in Gowkadal area of Srinagar during April 1997.

Giving details, highly-placed sources in the police said that jail superintendent Javed Ahmed sent a wireless message to SSP on February 1, saying that 8220;as advised by the medical superintendent of the jail, six militants are to be shifted to the hospital for treatment. Your are requested to provide an escort.8221;

However, the written requisition for police escort sent later to the SSP the same day, he said that 8220;six jail inmates are to be shifted to the hospital8221;.

Interestingly, the jail doctor advised for shifting the militants from Central Jail to the hospital only on February 2. And that too, he referred only five militants to the SMHS Hospital instead of six as per the statement of the jail superintendent a day earlier.

However, before the authorities could arrange a bus for shifting the militants, the jail staff reached the District Police Lines in their ambulance at 10 am sharp. Before the bus could be arranged, the jail staff took the police escort in their ambulance and returned to the Central Jail.

The ambulance carrying JUM militant leader along with other militants and eight member police escort left the jail for the hospital. On reaching the SMHS, Gen Abdullah along with another militant, district commander of Al Burq Jameel Ahmed Syed, asked the police escort to allow them to go to a toilet and from there, they tried to escape. However, Jameel was arrested immediately by the police, while other managed to escape.

While the jail superintendent did not say anything about the importance of militants, the jail doctor gave no reason for shifting the detenus to the hospital. Moreover, why was the jail staff in such a hurry to shift militants to the hospital that it sent its own ambulance to the District Police Lines for bringing the police escort?

The jail superintendent Javed Ahmed, however, said that the doctor had recommended shifting of the militants to the hospital as facilities for their medical examination were not available inside the jail. Gen Abdullah was complaining of some spinal problem for the last couple of months and the doctor had referred him for an X-ray, he added.