Three arrested for aiding gangster escape police custody

New Delhi: Three associates of Uttar Pradesh gangster were arrested for allegedly aiding him in fleeing police custody, officials said on Friday. Badan Singh alias Baddo, who was serving a life sentence, had escaped from the police custody in Meerut on March 28. He was convicted in 2018 for the murder of a lawyer in 1996. He has 10 cases of murder, extortion and robbery registered against him, they said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajiv Ranjan said Singh's three accomplices -- Dipin Suri (39), Jeet Singh Makkad (49) and Sonu Sehgal (46) -- were arrested on Thursday from SriniwasPuri Bus Stand here.

Interrogation revealed the three men planned the escape of Singh after meeting him in the Fatehgarh Jail. When Singh was brought to Ghaziabad court for an appearance, he won the confidence of the police team escorting him.

He lured them to a hotel in Meerut owned by his friend. There, Suri, Makkad and Sehgal and their associates offered the police team food and drinks laced with sedatives. When the policemen became unconscious, Singh and his accomplices fled the hotel, the officer said.

A case was registered in this regard and all the six policemen escorting Singh were arrested by the local police. The Uttar Pradesh Police announced a reward of Rs 25,000 each on the arrest of these persons, the officer said. Suri, who came in touch with Singh around 15 years ago, had contested in the 2007 UP Assembly election from Meerut.

He has been involved in an attempt to murder case, the officer said. Makkad was a Kho-Kho coach. He went to Panchkula to work in a Punjabi movie in which he played a role of an associate of the main villain. Then he came back to Meerut and worked as a property dealer.

He came in contact of Singh around 10 years ago, he added. Sehgal owned five sports good units in Saipuram, Meerut and came in contact of gangster Singh about five-six years ago, the police said.