The Great Escape
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, October 11 2011:
The escape of Commander-in-Chief of KCP-Mobile Task Force Chiron Tiken alias Sunil Meetei from the lock up of Porompat Police Station, where he had been lodged after being arrested by Delhi police from Bangalore in connection with his involvement in various crimes include killings, extortion and drug smuggling, was accomplished in just three days.
Sunil Meetei made the daring escape by breaking the wall of the lock up.
Quoting the findings of the investigation into the escape, a top police source disclosed that Sunil Meetei was lodged along with four other arrested persons in the same lock up.
He was brought to the lock up of Porompat Police Station on September 26 last in connection with a case taken up by Lamlai police station.
Sunil Meetei was on remand in police custody for questioning when he escaped from the lock up in the intervening night of October 3 and 4 .
Of the four persons lodged along with Sunil Meetei in the same lock up, one was a PULF cadre, the other was a Grade IV employee arrested in connection with stealing computer from JNIMS, the third was SDC UKhrul who was arrested on forgery charge and the last was a KCP cadre.
The police source said that from the interrogation of the four, it has been known that in the morning of October 1, three of them, namely the PULF cadre, the KCP cadre and Sunil Meetei talked light-heartedly among themselves about the possibility of escaping from the lock up when the KCP cadre revealed that before joining the outfit, he was working as a mason and was involved in construction of many Government buildings, so he knew that of the police station lock up too being a contract work its walls would also give way easily at the slightest force.
Hearing this, Sunil Meetei, who was lying on the floor, suddenly got up and started removing the plaster which crumbled down for around a feet.
Knowing that no police personnel ever entered inside the lock up for checking, he started looking for pieces of iron which could have been left behind by construction workers.
At last, Sunil Meetei found a piece of GI pipe at a corner of the latrine, which may have been left behind by those who fitted the pipes.
With the help of that GI pine, Sunil Meetei started scratching in between the bricks of the wall while the KCP cadre stood guard near the door of the lock up to alert possible movement of police personnel that side.
On the signal from the KCP cadre of possible signs of danger, Sunil Meetei would hurriedly cover the wall he was drilling with a blanket and pretend to be sleeping.
However, during night time, he used to take break from his work lest the sound of drilling attracted the attention of the police personnel on duty.
The sand from the drilling was taken and spread near the latrine by one of the inmates.
As the latrine was very dirty and area surrounding it remained wet all the time, no one could possibly make out anything amiss.
On the third day, when Sunil Meetei succeeded in making a hole large enough to slip out of the wall, he proposed to the rest of the inmates to escape with him at around midnight.
But none of them agreed to go along with him as all of them were waiting for bail.
So, Sunil Meetei escaped all alone.
After Sunil Meetei escaped, the remaining inmates did not say anything to the police fearing reprisal.
All four of them, however, have been further remanded to police custody on alleged charge of aiding Sunil Meetei to escape from the lock up, the police source added.