New Delhi: In an embarrassing lapse, a rape accused who was transported from Bahrain to India, gave police the slip at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
The accused, identified as Amandeep Singh, was brought to Delhi from the Gulf country in the early hours of December 20. He had been on the run since April 2020.
The incident has led to a blame game between Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Delhi Police.
According to police, Singh was stopped at Immigration department as a lookout circular (LOC) had been issued against him and handed over to CISF personnel deployed at the airport.
“The CISF personnel were in the process of handing him over to Delhi Police when he fled from their custody by jumping from counter number 33 in the arrival section of Immigration department at about 10 am,” PTI quoted an officer as saying.
The accused escaped when one of the officers escorting him went to the washroom.
According to the FIR lodged on the incident, CISF staff was on duty when Singh escaped.
“Singh was in the custody of CISF staff on duty. Now it has been learnt that he escaped from custody at 1000 hours while a CISF guard went to the washroom around 0957 hours. Singh exited the arrival immigration area illegally by jumping the counter number 33 gate (Indian Side). Thus Singh cheated Indian Immigration by illegally escaping from the arrival Immigration area. Therefore, a case may be registered against him under relevant sections of law,” the FIR stated.
CISF countered Delhi Police’s claim and denied any lapse on its part.
“It is pertinent to mention that no entry details were made regarding the LOC (lookout circular) pax (Singh) by Immigration officials in the register at arrival,” CISF chief spokesperson Shrikant Kishore said, adding that the accused was not in the force’s custody.
Despite efforts to locate the missing accused, Singh has not yet been traced.
