Chhindwara: Eight persons nabbed in a dacoity and murder case escaped from a police post near here after attacking policemen on Wednesday, but three of them were later caught in adjoining Maharashtra, officials said. Seven of them were under arrest and in police custody, while the eight accused, a minor, was under detention, they said. All of them were kept at the Umranala police chowki (outpost) from where they escaped in the wee hours after attacking and injuring two police personnel, they said.
Later, the Nagpur police apprehended three of them. After the daring escape, the MP government suspended four police personnel for dereliction of duty. Chhindwara Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Rai said the eight were accused of dacoity and murder and in custody of the Mohkhed police. They were kept at the Umaranala chowki under the Mohkhed police station area for interrogation as the crime was committed under the latter’s jurisdiction, he said. The SP said at around 2 am, the accused asked for water from police constables on duty.
When policemen were giving water, the accused attacked them, leaving two constables injured, and fled from the chowki, the police officer said. Rai said the accused had committed dacoity at a house in village Umaria under the Umaranala police outpost during the intervening night of July 26-27. During the dacoity, they also murdered the house owner, Fakira Pathe (66), the SP said.
All of them were apprehended on August 31 from an under-construction house in Pachmarhi Dhana village and produced before a local court, which sent seven of them in police custody, he said. The underage accused was detained and kept at the chowki for interrogation along with others, he said. Rai said four police officials – an inspector, an assistant sub-inspector and two head constables  – were suspended for dereliction of duty. Hours after their escape, three of them were nabbed in Nagpur.
Those arrested were identified as Ravi Ramprasad Dubey (30), a resident of Bhandara in Maharashtra, Monu Bhurmal Thakur (25) and Rajkumar Heta Keram (23), natives of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, said an officer of the Nagpur police.
The officer said Dubey was caught by local people in the Pardi area of Nagpur on Wednesday morning on suspicion that he was a robber. Officials of the Nagpur’s Kalamna police station questioned him and found out that he was among the eight accused who had fled from custody in Chhindwara.
Thakur and Keram were soon arrested from the vicinity, he said. All three were handed over to the Madhya Pradesh police, the officer added. Four of the five absconding accused were identified by the Chhindwara police as Ramesh Thakre (30), Deva Kirar (30), Chetan Gaydhane (33) Shravan Kumar (25). The underage accused’s identity was not revealed as per rules.
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