CUTTACK: A local court here has rejected the bail application of former Choudwar Circle Jail senior superintendent Sujit Kumar Raula, who has been arrested in connection with alleged manipulation of prison records following the escape of two undertrial murder accused.
Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge (Vigilance) Rajkishore Mohapatra, in an order passed on Wednesday, said the investigation was at a nascent stage and several aspects of the case were yet to be unearthed. Raula was arrested on September 20 on allegations of tampering with official prison records, including the gate in-out register, and forging the signature of former jailor Santoshini Dash in the jail superintendent’s minute book. His earlier bail plea was rejected on September 21.
Dash had lodged a complaint alleging that Raula remained absent from duty without authorisation and returned only after the two prisoners escaped from the jail. She alleged that entries in the official gate in-out register for October 1, 2 and 3 were deliberately altered to project Raula’s continuous presence inside the jail during duty hours.
Dash further alleged that her signature was forged in the jail minute book on October 2 in an attempt to shift responsibility for the security lapse onto her. “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,” the FIR stated.
While rejecting bail, the court noted that Raula was a highly placed government officer while the informant was his subordinate. The court also referred to allegations that he had not complied with a direction of the court reflected in the forwarding report. “There is every possibility the accused would not co-operate the investigation, destroy the crucial evidence and either induce or extend threat to prosecution witnesses, in particular to the informant,” the judge observed.
The court said the alleged offences were serious and, considering the materials on record and the stage of investigation, it was not inclined to release Raula on bail. The bail application was accordingly rejected.
