Police constable battered to death by drug peddler in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: In a shocking incident unheard of in Gujarat, a suspected drug peddler battered a police constable to death inside the Crime Branch headquarters in the heart of the city in Ahmedabad and escaped from the lock up well past Wednesday midnight. He was later picked late Thursday night from a train in a massive police operation.

Constable Chandrakant Makwana, 40, was attacked on the head repeatedly with an iron rod, killing him on the spot. His body was found lying in a pool of blood in a room on the ground floor of the Anti Organized Crime Cell on Thursday morning.

The drug peddler, Manish Srawan Kumar, a resident of Rajasthan, was brought by the constable to the crime branch for questioning a little after midnight.

"At 7 am today, when the officer on duty came in, he saw Chandrakant lying in a pool of blood. An iron rod was also lying there. The suspect had fled," said Crime Branch officer CN Rajpue. "It is suspected that the assailant drug peddler managed to escape by the back door," he added.

The Crime branch headquarters has a three-tier security comprising state reserve police, the local police and a Crime Branch staff.

A number of staff members, too, were present in that particular building at the time of the shocking incident, but no one heard any commotion, the police said. Nothing was recorded in the CCTV cameras in the building either, since most of them were not working.

"Only one camera, located outside the building was functional. The footage from it is being examined," said the police officer.

Later in a massive police operation late Thursday night, he was arrested from a Jaipur-Bandra train near Karjan in central Gujarat in a massive police operation.

According to Joint Commissioner of Police JK Bhatt, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch had information that after killing constable Makwana the drug peddler reached Mumbai and from there he boarded a train to reach Kota in Rajasthan, his home state.

The police immediately got into action and as many as 50 railway policemen got into the train at Surat police station. Bhatt said the police in coordination with the railways authorities managed to halt the train at Karjan station, though it is not the official stoppage.

Around 250 cops began looking for Manish in the train after ensuring that no door of any coach remained unattended. After thorough checking in various coaches, the police picked up found Manish from the last coach of the Jaipur-Bandra train. Manish, who hails from Rajasthan, sat with his face hidden throughout the journey but was identified by the police, Bhatt said.

Just after midnight, Manish was brought to the Crime Branch in Ahmedabad from where he had escaped less than 24 hours ago.

Meanwhile, the family of constable Makwana has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the murder as they are shocked that such an incident could take place in the Crime Branch headquarters. They are surprised that though so many police staff was present in the building they did not come to know of it.