Vadodara top cop smells a rat in Sylvester’s escape

Vadodara Police Commissioner Satish Sharma,who has already instructed the team led by DCP (Crime) Ashok Kumar Yadav to provide the preliminary information on priority basis,said there are several lapses which are too difficult to digest and stringent action is awaiting against those who responsible for it.

Those at the headquarters of Vadodara police who are responsible for the escort were evidently baffled by the fact that none of the four policemen,including HQ sub-inspectors M S Gohil,Ambalal Labhubhai,Ranchhod Jinabhai and Vijay Baburao,bothered to inform them.

“The escorting staff did not inform anybody until they reached the Hiran Magri police station around 1 am. Ideally,we should have been informed the very next moment after they (the escorting policemen) realised that Sylvester has escaped. This is certainly fishy and it would certainly be investigated why they failed to inform us despite having mobile phones with them until the Hiran Magri police took the phones away,” Sharma told The Sunday Express.

Requesting anonymity,an officer at the headquarters said,“There are all chances that the escorting team was scared about the repercussions and that is why they continued to search Sylvester till late in the night and eventually informed Hiran Magri police station officers around 1 am.”

When asked whether there was any message from the escorting policemen about the escape,Reserve Police Inspector Kuldeep Sharma said,“We got the message from the Hiran Magri police station around 4 am and before that,there was no communication in this regard. It was not possible for the escorting party to call after they reached Hiran Magri because their mobile phones were seized by the police there. So when we tried to call up our men,their cellphones were switched off.”