As many as eight prisoners have escaped from Sassoon General Hospital in as many months recently, with the latest incident being that of an undertrial, Yogesh Raut, on Saturday.
Raut, the prime accused in the Nayana Pujari murder and gang-rape case, escaped on Saturday from the toilet of the hospital, even as the policeman accompanying him stood outside.
The police said that in all these eight cases, the modus operandi adopted by the undertrials and convicts to flee is the same. “They excuse themselves to go to the toilet or drink water. As the policemen wait outside the toilet, they manage to escape from the windows,” said the police officials.
On Saturday afternoon, Raut was taken to the hospital from Yerawada central prison after he complained of itching all over his body. He was escorted by police naik SS Patil and admitted to ward no 33. After his check-up, he went to the toilet and managed to flee.
The deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), Shirish Sardeshpande, said stringent action would be taken against the erring policeman from whose custody the suspect escaped.
“The Sassoon Hospital is always overcrowded and so these suspects find it easy to flee. Moreover, the railway station and the state transport bus stand are very close to the hospital. After escaping, they can board a bus or train and leave the city,” the prison sources said.
A police source admitted that Raut’s escape would definitely affect the trial, which is listed for hearing on October 23.
Nayana Pujari, an info-tech company employee, was abducted from a bus stop on the Kharadi-Mundhwa bypass, allegedly by Raut and his associates, nearly two years ago on the pretext of giving her a lift. She was gang-raped and allegedly murdered by them after they came to know from her identity card that she was working with Synechron and feared she would report them as one of the suspects was employed by the firm as a security guard.
The Bund Garden police have lodged a complaint against Raut under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
