Patna: Five police personnel, including four constables and a guard, were suspended for alleged negligence in duty after an accused involved in a CSP loot case escaped from the prisoner ward of Sitamarhi Sadar Hospital on Monday. The incident has raised serious questions over security arrangements for undertrial prisoners admitted to hospitals.The accused, identified as Fekan Kumar, had suffered a bullet injury in his leg during an exchange of fire with the police on July 3 and was undergoing treatment. He was shifted to the ground-floor prisoner ward of Sadar Hospital on July 24 after complaining of pain. Despite security arrangements that included four constables posted outside the ward and another guard at the gate, Fekan allegedly escaped by breaking a bathroom ventilator and jumping out. He then fled through a lane behind the hospital before police personnel noticed his disappearance.Sitamarhi SP Amit Ranjan said, “A departmental action has been taken against the personnel deployed for his security. An FIR has also been lodged at Town police station in connection with the escape.”According to police, Fekan was arrested in connection with the July 1 loot of a CSP operator in Riga police station area. The operator was allegedly robbed of around Rs 1.5 lakh by armed criminals. Following the incident, a special investigation team headed by the Sadar SDPO was formed. Acting on technical surveillance, CCTV footage and intelligence inputs, police raided a place in the Riga area on July 3 and surrounded a gang of five criminals.During the operation, one of the accused allegedly opened fire while trying to flee on a motorcycle. Police retaliated, injuring Fekan in the leg before taking him into custody. Investigators subsequently linked the gang to a daylight robbery of Rs 1.7 lakh from a Central Bank CSP at Anhari in Riga, where three bike-borne youths allegedly threatened operator Rajeshwar Thakur at gunpoint and escaped with cash.Fekan had also attracted attention earlier this year when villagers in Bokhra allegedly caught him while visiting a married woman he had befriended on Facebook and tied him to an electricity pole.The SP said, “Police teams are conducting raids to re-arrest the fugitive. All possible exit routes are being monitored and his associates are under surveillance.”
