Tinu had been chargesheeted in the Moosewala murder case. FB/ Indian express)A day after an A-category gangster Deepak Tinu, one of the accused in singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case, escaped from the custody of Mansa Police, a local court sent crime investigation agency in-charge sub-inspector Pritpal Singh to four-day police remand.
Mansa Police on Monday also recovered a Maruti Brezza, the private vehicle of the sub-inspector in which he allegedly took the gangster out. The arrested sub-inspector was interrogated by Bathinda IG Mukhwinder Singh Chhina and SSP Mansa Gaurav Toora.
Pritpal Singh was also a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which had investigated Moosewala’s killing.
The police, however, are still groping in the dark over the sequence of events and the exact place from where the gangster allegedly escaped from the sub-inspector’s custody. Holes have emerged in police theory after they initially said that the sub-inspector took out the gangster “to recover weapons without informing seniors or taking any security along”, as later it emerged that he took Tinu in his private vehicle and allegedly facilitated a meeting with his girlfriend.
On Sunday after it was alleged that the sub-inspector took the gangster to a guest house in Jhunir where he met his girlfriend and then fled, sources said that Mansa Police has taken CCTV camera footage from the guest house to verify if Tinu was seen there in the wee hours of Sunday.
However, on Monday, reports emerged that the sub-inspector allegedly took the gangster to his official residence in Mansa where he met his girlfriend, but the police remained tight-lipped about the place from where the gangster escaped and said that CCTV cameras were still being checked.
“We are still investigating the case,” said IG Chhina, refusing to comment further.
Meanwhile, the Mansa Police in its FIR registered against Pritpal Singh said that the sub-inspector had “hatched a conspiracy” and “connived” with the gangster to make him escape.
The FIR further says that it was a “conspiracy” because the sub-inspector “took Tinu alone in his private vehicle for weapon recovery, and did not take along any security or police force, and helped the gangster escape”.
Tinu, a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has been booked in at least 58 cases, including murder. He was chargesheeted in Moosewala murder case. On September 27, he was brought on production warrant from jail by Mansa Police for questioning in another murder case of 2019.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 222 (intentional omission to apprehend on the part of public servant), 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension), 225-A (omission to apprehend, or sufferance of escape, on part of public servant) and 120-B (conspiracy) of IPC.
Hailing from Bhiwani of Haryana, Tinu had earlier also escaped from the custody of Haryana Police in 2017. According to Mansa SSP Gaurav Toora, Tinu had provided “logistical support from jail for execution of Moosewala’s killing”.