Escape bid of juvenile murder accused foiled

Role of juvenile home caretaker under scanner

PRAYAGRAJ: A juvenile murder accused, who injured a homeguard while trying to flee from a hospital after faking illness, was caught by the police on Monday.

The murder accused was helped by another minor, who was released from the juvenile home barely a day before.

SSP Prayagraj Ajay Kumar said both, the minor accused and his aide were promptly arrested.

“The exact age of the two offenders is also being determined,” the SSP said. The minor accused aide is a native of Kaushambi and has eight cases against him including one attempt to murder case.

A country made pistol and a bike has been recovered from them. Police said the duo was questioned as per rules of JJ Act. Police said caretaker and employees of the juvenile home could be booked as preliminary investigations have raised suspicion on their role.

Four police teams have been set up to unearth the network involved in helping minor offenders at juvenile homes.

Investigations ha ve revealed that minor offenders were using mobile phones to talk to their aides, police said. This came to light during a search by police, administrative officials and district probationary officer that led to the recovery of a mobile phone from the drawer of juvenile home’s caretaker Ashish Patel, police said.

Subsequently, call details revealed that the minor murder accused had used the same phone for talking to his aide to plan his escape.

“As per the plan, the minor murder accused, who was put up at a juvenile home at Khuldabad, faked illness on Monday. He was sent to the Colvin Hospital with a home guard Surendra Shukla. From there the minor offender tried to escape on a bike with the help of an aide after assaulting the home guard with pistol butt. But the plan was foiled as despite his injury, the homeguard managed to push the bike on which the duo tried to flee. The accused and his aide were caught,” police said.

Superintendent of police (city) Dinesh Kumar Singh also reached the spot along with a team and launched a hunt for the missing minor accused. With the help of locals, police traced and arrested the minor offender who had been brought to the juvenile home at Khuldabad last year in connection with a murder in Kotwali area of Pratapgarh district.

Home guard Surendra Shukla has been admitted to hospital for treatment.