All four cops who were drunk while escorting Sylvester, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, have been suspended.
Sylvester Daniel, who escaped from police custody on Friday while being brought back from Udaipur by four Gujarat policemen, was able to get away because he had got all the policemen drunk.
He later went to Ajmer where he purchased a pistol. Sylvester had returned to Udaipur where he intended to extort money from a businessmen when he was apprehended by a team of
Rajasthan police.
The four policemen from Gujarat have also been arrested by the Rajasthan police and are currently in their custody. “It was just negligence by some policemen on duty, nothing else,” said Gujarat’s DGP in-charge Chitranjan Singh on Sunday, in an attempt to end all speculation about the escape and subsequent recapture of Sylvester Daniel.
Sylvester, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, escaped from police custody while being brought back from Udaipur after production in a local court.
Singh was speaking at a press conference in Ahmedabad, called to clarify how Sylvester had escaped. He said that the criminal had escaped because of negligence by the four policemen who were escorting him back from Udaipur. “No conspiracy should be read in the incident,” Singh said.
Singh admitted that Sylvester had bought liquor for all the four policemen — one PSI, one head constable and two constables — who were bringing him back. After the escort party became drunk, Sylvester managed to escape, Singh said. The DGP-in-charge further said that all the four policemen had been arrested by the Rajasthan police for negligence on duty.
“They are currently in the custody of Rajasthan police. We have already suspended all the four policemen,” he said, even as he gave the assurance that the guilty policemen would be punished after a departmental enquiry when they return
to Gujarat.
On the way back to Vadodara, Sylvester had dinner as well as drinks at a roadside dhaba on Friday. The policemen had allegedly taken off Sylvester’s handcuffs and also allowed him to meet his friends and visit his mother’s place.
Singh further said that policing policemen is a tough task as the police are supposed to monitor criminals, not their own men. “But we will investigate the whole episode and try to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the future,” he said.
Vadodara police commissioner, Satish Sharma, was also present. He urged the media not to blame the whole police department for the mistake of four policemen. Sharma also revealed the names of all the four policemen. They are PSI MS Gohil, head constable Ambalal Lallubhai, and two constables, Vijay Baburao and Ranchhod Jinabhai.
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