Nagpur: A dreaded criminal escaped from the lock-up of Ajni police station early Wednesday morning through a gap between an iron bar and the wall, sending shock waves through the police department. He was finally nabbed on a train at Betul in Madhya Pradesh with the help of railway authorities.
Sources said the accused, Mohd Irfan Ansari (20), a resident of Ambe Nagar, Pardi, was involved in several crimes over the last four years. He had numerous cases filed against him, including theft, robbery, rape, and burglary.
Irfan recently stole a donation box from a pandal in the Jadu Mahal area in Ajni police station limits during the Navratri celebrations. About a month and a half ago, Sakkardara police had booked him for rape and the court remanded him in judicial custody. On Tuesday, the Ajni police obtained a production warrant to interrogate him in connection with the pandal theft case and kept him in the lock-up of Ajni police station.
Irfan escaped from the lock-up on Wednesday at around 5am when the guard on duty had gone to the washroom. The guard immediately informed Ajni's senior inspector Nitinchandra Rajkumar. Police started searching for Irfan's possible whereabouts and also questioned his family members.
Cops came to know that Irfan went to his girlfriend's house and changed his clothes before fleeing the city by train. He travelled to Itarsi in Sanghamitra Express and then boarded the Bagmati Express to return to Nagpur. Based on this intelligence, police apprehended him in Betul with the assistance of railway authorities.
Sources said that the Ajni police had contacted the public works department (PWD) to fill the gap between the iron bar and the wall in the lock-up. The PWD started the work, but it was stalled due to Diwali.