Escort incharge, munshi suspended for shootout

Mahendragarh, September 9

Sub-Inspector (SI) Satbir Singh, incharge of the prisoner escort guard, and his munshi Tara Chand have been suspended in connection with the shootout at the local court here yesterday wherein a group of armed assailants freed Vikram, alias Papla, from police custody.

Sources said the action was taken by SP Anil Dhawan on the basis of preliminary inquiry report which exposed a lapse in the deployment of adequate guards with the prison van carrying hardcore criminals. A departmental inquiry was ordered against the police personnel as well.

“Papla’s name figures in the list of hardcore criminals in the district jail. Satbir should have demanded extra police force. He should have intimated the Mahendragarh SHO for escort of the prison van in his area, but he failed to do so,” Dhawan said.

As per standing instructions, extra police force had to be placed with a prison van ferrying hardcore criminals for court hearings, but the escort guard incharge committed negligence in following the instructions, he elaborated.

Meanwhile, District Sessions Judge Neena Choudhary and Additional District and Sessions Judge Najar Singh inspected the shootout spot and asked the SP to review security arrangements on the court complex. “We have asked the SP to depute adequate police personnel on the court premises,” said Najar Singh.

Dhawan asserted that six more police personnel had been deployed on the court premises and the Mahendragarh DSP asked to strengthen security arrangements in court. — TNS