The Tribune, January 30, 2002

Eight cops suspended

Rohtak: Eight cops, including a Sub Inspector and a Head Constable, were suspended today on the charge of dereliction of duty. The punitive action was taken against the cops as an undertrial prisoner managed to escape from their custody last night. According to information, the cops were bringing the undertrial, Sunder, a resident of Gurgaon, back to Rohtak jail after producing him in a court at Sonepat. All of them alighted from at the bus stand here at around 9.30 pm yesterday.

Thereafter, seven cops moved to their destinations and only one constable accompanied the undertrial to the jail. Meanwhile, the undertrial dodged the policeman and escaped.

Hindustan Times, January 30, 2002

Rape accused escapes from police custody

HT Correspondent
(Rohtak, January 29) An accused in several criminal cases, including those of rape and dacoity, escaped from police custody here on Monday night. He has been identified as one Sunder Singh, resident of Bhulwana village in Faridabad district. A dozen policemen have been booked in this connection.

According to police sources, a Faridabad court had on Monday remanded Sunder Singh to judicial custody and he was to be lodged in Rohtak jail, as Faridabad has no jail.

But inexplicably, the policemen escorting the accused took him to Sonipat jail instead of directly bringing him to Rohtak jail from Faridabad. The Sonipat jail authorities reportedly advised the policemen escorting Sunder Singh to take him to Rohtak jail.

Though about a dozen policemen were assigned the duty of escorting Sunder, but head constable Pyare Lal was the only policeman to actually escort the accused to Rohtak jail.

When the two, accused Sunder Singh and head constable Pyare Lal, were about to reach Rohtak jail, the former managed to extricate himself and escaped, taking full advantage of darkness. Head constable Pyare Lal lodged a report with the local civil lines police station.

A case under sections 223 and 224 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the 12 policemen.