Tamang accused held after custody slip

Darjeeling, July 17: Dawa Sangay, an accused in the Madan Tamang murder case, was caught after he allegedly tried to flee police custody from Darjeeling district hospital where he had been admitted on June 22.

Sangay was found in a market close to the hospital around 1.30pm, police said. He had been admitted last month with back pain.

Police have said a department probe would be conducted on the two guards posted outside the hospital cell where Sangay was kept.

Kunal Aggarwal, the Darjeeling superintendent of police, said: “We received information that two accused in the Madan Tamang murder case, Dawa Sangay and Tenzing Khambachay, were trying to flee custody since yesterday. We had kept police personnel in plainclothes on the hospital premises and we have video footage to show that Dawa Sangay had come out of his cell at the district hospital and was trying to flee.”

Sangay, Khambachay, Pravin Subba and Amol Lama were among 13 people who surrendered in connection with the Madan Tamang case on June 17. The four were moved to the hospital on June 22 after they complained of various illnesses. All 13 were named in the CID chargesheet in the case. The case is now being probed by the CBI. The four were kept in a separate cell for convicts and undertrials in the hospital and were being guarded by two-security personnel.

According to Aggarwal, Sangay came out of the hospital’s cell on the pretext of undergoing some pathological tests. “He showed some documents to the two constables guarding the accused in the hospital and came out. He was arrested from the market this afternoon.”

The police said Khambachay, too, was trying to come out of the hospital but chose not to venture out when he sensed that plainclothesmen were keeping a watch. “He probably sensed that plainclothes police personnel had already been posted there and immediately went inside the hospital cell,” said Aggarwal.

Police have booked Sangay under Section 224 of the IPC for trying to flee from custody.

A police source said they had information that a vehicle was waiting in the market to help Sangay flee Darjeeling.

Another officer said the police would also make an appeal in court to have a team of doctors examine all the four accused who have been shifted to the hospital.