Sylvester Daniel nabbed from Ajmer after escape

Sylvester Daniel, a key witness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, who escaped from police custody on Friday while he was being brought back to Gujarat after being produced in an Udaipur court was nabbed from Ajmer late night on the same day.

He was being taken to Udaipur from Vadodara jail where he is lodged in connection with a number of cases.  Chitranjan Singh, DGP, Gujarat said, "Sylvester was nabbed from Ajmer in a joint operation by Gujarat and Rajasthan police."

At the time of being nabbed, Sylvester had a weapon on him.
"He will be handed over to Udaipur police and will eventually be given to Vadodara police so that he can be brought to Gujarat," said Singh.

Sources said that Sylvester was being brought to Vadodara after being produced in an Udaipur court when the police vehicle in which he and the police escort were travelling, broke down on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border. A complaint in this connection was registered at a Rajasthan police station. However, the versions of the Gujarat police and the Rajasthan police vary on exactly how Sylvester got away.

The CBI team investigating the Sohrabuddin and Tulsi Prajapati cases had feared that he could be killed by the Gujarat police in an encounter in the same way as Tulsi was killed. Sources in the CBI said Tulsi was also killed by the Gujarat police one day after he allegedly escaped while being taken back to Udaipur after being produced in a Gujarat court.

"We are worried that he would be found dead in the next few days after a police encounter," a source had said before Sylvester was captured.

Sources further said that CBI is not happy with the way in which the state government has been handling the security of witnesses in important cases being investigated by the probe agency.
Sources in the CBI had further said that Sylvester's absence will not affect the cases in which he is a witness as his statement was recorded under section 161 in the presence of a judicial magistrate. "But we are nevertheless concerned about his security as his disappearance could affect the investigation of the cases in other ways," a source had told DNA.

The sourcs had further said that Sylvester's statement had played a crucial role in the arrest of suspended IPS officer Abhay Chudasma and, eventually, of former Gujarat minister of state for home, Amit Shah. "Chudasma was arrested on the basis of Sylvester's statement recorded before the magistrate," the source said.

In his statement to the CBI, Sylvester had told the probe agency that the transaction of money that had taken place after the firing on the office of Popular Builders in Ahmedabad was allegedly done at the behest of Chudasma.