Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: A day after notorious criminal Shahjahan Khan alias Patu escaped from SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack, where he was undergoing treatment, twin city Police Commissioner Yogesh Bahadur Khurania Sunday suspended an assistant sub inspector (ASI), a havildar and four constables for negligence while on duty.
Khan, who was arrested after being injured in a police encounter on the intervening night of March 2 and 3, gave police the slip Saturday while undergoing treatment at SCBMCH.
Commissionerate police public relation officer Bishnu Mishra Sunday said ASI Gourahari Mallick, who was posted at Khandagiri police station, havildar Ranjan Rout, and four constables were suspended for their negligence while on duty.
Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi told Orissa POST that Khan was brought in an autorickshaw to the orthopaedics ward from the surgery ward, from where he managed to escape. “Khan fled from the hospital’s orthopaedics ward, where he was shifted from the surgery ward for plastering of his left leg where he had sustained a bullet injury during the encounter. The escape took place despite an ASI and five policemen of lower ranks being in charge of Khan’s custody,” said a source.
On being asked if Khan had access to mobile phones and how he planned his escape, Bhoi asserted that the notorious criminal was debarred from using any mobile phone.
At least 17 criminal cases are pending against Khan in Khurda, Bhubaneswar and Puri districts.
This is the second time the notorious criminal has escaped from police custody. He was earlier arrested in a chain-snatching case in Bhubaneswar and had escaped from custody during treatment at Capital Hospital. Meanwhile, Khandagiri police have detained a person, who reportedly has close links with Khan.
