A wanted criminal, arrested after a police encounter on the evening of May 25, escaped from the prisoner ward of District Civil Hospital on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday by slipping past police personnel on duty.
The accused took advantage of darkness caused by a power cut during a thunderstorm and fled the ward, even though four policemen were deployed outside.
The accused, identified as Gurjeet Singh of Delhi, had been a major challenge for Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh police after allegedly carrying out around 10 robberies in the region. He was under treatment in the hospital’s prisoner ward. He was to be produced in court for police remand after discharge in connection with an attempted robbery at a Taraori petrol pump on May 2.
Police suspect he escaped by covering himself with a bedsheet to avoid identification and using the brief power outage caused by the storm.
Hospital sources said electricity tripped shortly after midnight and remained out for nearly two and a half minutes. CCTV footage reportedly shows the accused had already left the ward by the time power was restored. Police personnel were later seen searching the corridors.
Gurjeet had allegedly pretended to be in severe pain for the past two days and appeared unable to stand. However, CCTV footage shows him walking normally without a limp while escaping.
Following the incident, police launched a massive search operation and collected CCTV footage from the hospital. SP Narender Bijarniya suspended all four personnel on duty and ordered a departmental inquiry.
“All four police personnel have been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry has been initiated. Teams are working to trace the accused,” the SP said.
