CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has refused to extend the interim protection to Choudwar Circle Jail senior superintendent Sujit Kumar Raula, who is accused of manipulating prison records and forging a former jailor’s signature following the escape of two murder accused from the prison last year.
Justice V Narasingh, in an order passed on Saturday, rejected Raula’s plea for pre-arrest bail and vacated the interim protection granted to him on March 23.
Raula had sought anticipatory bail on the ground that, being a government servant, there was little possibility of him absconding. The state, however, opposed the plea. It pointed to the investigating officer’s affidavit, which stated that Raula had repeatedly been asked to produce relevant documents, but had failed to do so.
Taking note of the rival submissions and what it termed the petitioner’s “prevaricating stands”, Justice Narasingh said, “This Court is persuaded to hold that ‘ensconcing’ the petitioner by an order of pre-arrest bail would render further investigation in the case at hand farcical.”
An FIR was lodged by former jailor Santoshini Das after two under-trial murder accused escaped from the jail on October 2 last year. Das alleged that Raula had remained absent from duty without authorisation and reported back only after the jailbreak.
She also alleged that the official gate in-out register for October 1, 2 and 3 was deliberately tampered with to falsely show Raula’s continuous presence inside the jail during duty hours.
According to the FIR, Raula also allegedly forged Das’ signature in the minute book on October 2 to shift responsibility for the security lapse. “This act was done with an ulterior motive to fabricate evidence, mislead authorities and falsely implicate or trap me while shielding himself from the responsibility,” Das alleged.