Moon Gazer continues……

The first to get custody of the accused was the special staff of the neighbouring south-west district. Since their fingerprints had matched the chance prints picked up from the scene of an equally horrific crime committed on 18 November 1991, wherein retired Major General O.P. Kalhan and his son Surender Kalhan were murdered in their sleep in Delhi Cantonment, the accused were interrogated by the police of the south-west district, and as further investigation was still under way, they were lodged in the lock-up of the police station in R.K. Puram.

On the night of 20–21 April 1992, only a month after their arrests, the phone in my bedroom rang in the dead of night. It was ACP Kampani. The news he relayed to me jolted me out of my bed and shocked me out of my wits. Jodhan Singh alias Dadaniya and Anil Bharose—the two kingpins of the gang—had escaped from the lock-up of the R.K. Puram police station. Kampani reported that they had used the lid of the cistern in their cell to make a hole in the poorly constructed wall of the lock-up and escape. The police guard posted outside was oblivious to what was going on inside the cell and realized what had happened a bit too late.

I sat on my bed, staring at the phone in disbelief and sincerely hoping it was all a rude joke or a horrific nightmare. Despair and impotent rage overtook me as the telephone kept shrieking incessantly. I could see the triumphant face of Jodhan Singh having the last laugh.

How could anyone have allowed this to happen? Why did the south-west district not have adequate security around the lock-up? Why had Singh and Bharose been held like ordinary criminals and how could anyone be so careless? The questions that crossed and agitated my mind were many. But there were no answers to them.

To be continued….