CHENNAI: S Daswant, the child rape accused who allegedly killed his mother too, was nabbed again from a Mumbai street on Friday, a day after he gave a slip to Tamil Nadu police team from a hotel in the city.
"We got information that he was roaming in south Mumbai and our special teams were surveilling the region when we caught him as he was walking on a street around 4 pm," Anil D Kumbhare, zone VIII, deputy commissioner of police, Mumbai told Express.
Daswant was said to be having the handcuff still on him when he was rearrested. Daswant, who was facing trial in the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl child in February, absconded on December 2, the day his mother was found killed in her house at Kundrathur in the outskirts of Chennai. He was arrested from a hide out in Mumbai on Wednesday by the Tamil Nadu police.
The team was said to be taking Daswant to a hotel to have food at around 4.30 pm and asked permission to use a toilet when he allegedly took to heels along with his handcuff. Police said the escape took place close to Hotel Satellite, near Vile Parle police station, which is a few meters away from the Mumbai airport.
Daswant has been handed over to the Mumbai police, who will book him in a separate case for escaping from police custody. He will again be produced before a magistrate court before the Tamil Nadu police would get a warrant to take him back to Chennai. Meanwhile, a CCTV footage supposedly showing Daswant fleeing from a hotel emerged on Friday.
He was earlier produced in a court at Bandra and the Tamil Nadu police obtained a transit warrant to take him to Chennai. The Mumbai police has issued high alert to all police stations and the deputy commissioners of police are to look into their respective jurisdiction.
A senior police officer said, the accused was handcuffed and cannot easily disappear as a common person, hence will be nabbed soon.
However, Chennai city police commissioner A K Viswanathan got in touch with his counterpart in Mumbai and sought help to narrow down on the culprit.
The accused was arrested from Race Course in Mumbai and was to reach the city on Wednesday night itself. "But we could not get a flight, the team was to bring him on Thursday, when he escaped," said the source.
Daswant was first arrested in February for allegedly raping and killing of a 7-year-old girl who was also living in the same apartment complex at Mugalivakkam. He subsequently came out on bail after the Madras High Court quashed his detention under Goondas Act. He went absconding on December 2, the day his mother was found killed in her house and police suspect Daswant killed her as she refused to give him money.