Mumbai: Hand-cuffed accused 'flees' from police van

A 19-year-old arrested for attempting to cut open an ATM at Mulund last week, allegedly escaped from a police van on Tuesday. The accused was to be taken to jail along with his three associates after they were sent to judicial custody, and managed to flee outside a quarantine centre where they were to be first admitted. He has been identified as Arman Mushtaq Ahmed and a case has been registered against him at Kharghar police station. While a police officer claimed Arman was unattended in the vehicle, the official complaint said he kicked a constable and escaped.

Arrest due to technical evidence

On October 24, the Mulund police arrested four men and a minor boy for attempting to cut open an ATM machine at Mulund West, in the wee hours of October 22. Arman, a resident of Bhandup, had been given the task of keeping an eye out for patrolling cops during the theft. As they tried to cut open the ATM, it created a lot of smoke, so they abandoned the plan. The police arrested them later based on technical evidence such as CCTV footage.

After spending four days in police custody, the accused were sent to judicial custody by the court on Tuesday. The minor had been sent to a correctional centre. The Mulund police had to take the accused to Taloja jail on Tuesday evening. However, as per COVID-19 protocol, new inmates are first sent to a quarantine centre. So the Mulund police took them to the centre at Kharghar and began to admit three of the accused, Durgesh Choubey, 19, Salman Choudhary, 22 and Shehzad Khan, 21.

Police on the lookout

As there was some issue with Arman's name, he was kept waiting in the police van. "Three accused were taken to the centre and the procedure to register Arman was going on. He was hand-cuffed and sitting inside the van unattended. When the police came back they could not find Arman," said an officer from Kharghar police station. The Kharghar police have registered an offence against Arman. The Mulund and Kharghar cops are searching for him. While an officer has claimed Arman was unattended, according to the official complaint filed by the Mulund police, he kicked one of the constables and ran away.

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