7 nabbed for helping gangster Vikas Dalal escape custody

FARIDABAD: The Faridabad police on Monday claimed to have arrested seven men, who allegedly helped dreaded criminal Vikas Dalal, a member of the Manjeet Mahal gang, escape from police custody on October 8 this year.

Police said while they are yet to arrest Dalal, his aides – identified as Sandeep who hails from Chaprola in Palwal district; Ashish Kumar and Kavinder from Muzaffarnagar, UP; Sohan Singh from Mathura; Prashant from Palwal; Pradeep from Jhajjar and Hasim from Mathura– have been arrested from different parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

“We scanned footage from over 100 CCTV cameras and got the suspects identified by other gang members who are currently out on bail,” inspector, Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), Sandeep Mor said.

During questioning, the arrested accused admitted to have played a major role in freeing Dalal from police custody, Mor said, adding that all seven were produced before a court which has remanded them in judicial custody.

“We have recovered some arms, ammunition, motorcycle, car etc used in Dalal’s escape,” Mor said.

The investigators maintained that of the seven, two were deployed outside the hospital gate from where Dalal escaped, two were near Tikona Park and one was inside the hospital.

“Dalal and his aides had fled to Tikona Park, from where they all boarded a Toyota Corolla which was waiting for them,” Mor said, adding that efforts are on to arrest Dalal.

Soon after Dalal’s escape on October 8, Faridabad commissioner of police, Amitabh Singh Dhillon, had constituted a team of crime officials to crack the case.