Rs10,000 reward for helping nab Vijay Thopte

After facing some heat from the Bombay high court for being unable to trace the killer of trade union leader Dr Datta Samant, Mumbai police commissioner D Sivanandhan on Thursday announced a cash reward of Rs10, 000 to anyone who helped nab the killer, Vijay Thopte.

Thopte had escaped since he jumped out on parole from Yerwada Prison at Pune, on May 18, 2005.

The Bombay high court on April 20 asked Sivanandhan to present himself in court on May 3 and explain the failure of the police force in tracing Vijay Topte.

Justice BH Marlapalle and Justice Amjad Sayed have directed the commissioner to take prompt steps to nab Thopte.

Thopte and two others were convicted for killing Samant on January 16, 1997, outside his Powai residence and sent to life imprisonment by a sessions court in 2000. The trio was then sent to Yerwada Jail in Pune.

The high court is currently hearing their appeals against conviction. One of the accused died in jail while the other, Ganpat Bamne, has been in prison.

Sivanandhan appealed to all the police personnel attached to the Mumbai police to work together to nab Vijay Thopte.