Gujarat police had formed 3 teams to nab Sylvester

Three Gujarat police teams - one each from Ahmedabad crime branch, Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and Vadodara crime branch -had joined the hunt for Sohrab aide, Sylvester Daniel. Sylvester had escaped from the custody of a Vadodara police team on Friday night while being brought back to Gujarat after production in an Udaipur court.  He was later nabbed from Ajmer by a joint team of Gujarat and Rajasthan cops.

Sources said that as Ahmedabad crime branch had earlier questioned Sylvester, many crime branch personnel could easily identify the absconding man. Hence a team from Ahmedabad crime branch had  been dispatched to Udaipur. The Gujarat ATS was also roped in as it was the ATS which had first arrested Sylvester in 2005.

Vadodara police commissioner Satish Sharma said that the Gujarat director general of police had talked to his Rajasthan counterpart regarding the search operation launched to nab Sylvester.

Sources said that Rajasthan police had detained two associates of Sylvester and questioned him in connection with his escape. The Vadodara police had also checked the background of people who had come to visit him when he was lodged in Vadodara jail.

The police were also investigating the role of police sub-inspector MS Gohil and two police constables, Ambalal Lalubhai and Vijay Baburao, who were escorting Sylvester back to Gujarat. "We were trying to find out whether they had intentionally allowed Sylvester to flee," a source said.

Before he was shifted to Vadodara Jail, Sylvester was lodged in Sabarmati prison. He was shifted to Vadodara due to security reasons. "Most of the accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case are lodged in Sabarmati jail and Sylvester was afraid he would be attacked by them. Hence he was shifted to Vadodara jail," a source in the police said.