BHUBANESWAR: A day after gangster Sk Hyder slipped out of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack leaving the Odisha Government red-faced, the State Police establishment is busy searching for answers with the criminal vanishing into thin air.Hyder’s successful attempt to escape after he was arrested by Bhubaneswar Police following a murder in 2005 has posed serious questions and exposed the gaping loopholes he exploited.
Why was he was admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital, in the first place? The medical college authorities profess ignorance though the gangster who weaved a criminal network in Kendrapara under political patronage checked himself in on March 23. Nineteen days of admission but none of the top officials of the MCH would tell how and why.
How did a hardened criminal like Hyder get an air-conditioned cabin in State’s premier government medical college without health authorities’ sanction and knowledge of police? How come the local police station was not in the know of things? No one wants to answer.
On the other hand, oversimplified answers that some of the gangster’s attendants offered sedative-laced drink to the security personnel are being dished out. There were six escorts for Hyder and each was given a 4-hour duty. There was no CCTV eye in the surgery ward he was admitted to. Having spent last 17 years in various jails across the State, the wily gangster is believed to have fled at 4.30 pm but police came to know about his escape at 7.05 pm.
The role of Prison authorities in the whole episode has come under scanner too. Hyder was lodged in Sambalpur Circle Jail. Police say he was initially admitted to VIMSAR, Burla before being referred to Cuttack. Why was he referred to SCB Medical College and under whose sanction?
Meanwhile, Sambalpur SP Battula Gangadhar suspended six cops on Sunday over the incident. The suspended include a havildar and five constables.Earlier in the day, DGP Abhay chaired a high level meeting at Commissionerate Police headquarters here to lay out plans to trace the absconding gangster as the State Police launched a manhunt.
Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner SK Priyadarshi, Crime Branch ADG YK Jethwa and Central Range DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj were present.Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh, Sambalpur, Kendrapara and various other district SPs are coordinating the drive. “Six teams have been formed to nab Hyder and intelligence is being collected from various districts like Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Cuttack and others,” said a senior police officer.
The gangster, who was serving life sentence at Sambalpur circle jail before being brought to the SCB MCH last month for treatment, was apparently suffering from kidney ailment and admitted to surgery ward’s cabin number-5 on March 23.