Officials at the Perumbavur police station were kept on their toes for several hours last week when a ganja case accused played hide and seek with the police after giving a slip from their custody.
The 26-year -old accused, a native of Assam, was arrested last week after officers caught him red-handed with 20 grams of ganja. Despite being taken to the police station, he managed to flee the spot amidst a huge rush of people visiting the station.
Busy handling a flurry of complainants, it took the officials sometime before realising that the person had escaped. Soon, a massive search to chase down the accused was launched though to no avail.
Meanwhile, the accused had been hiding inside a shopping complex adjacent to the police station for several hours after the escape. With a plan leave for his home State, he ventured out of the building.
But as soon as he stepped out, a local resident, who had visited the station earlier on the day, recognised him and captured him with the help of people nearby.
The police soon rushed to the spot and took the accused back into custody, marking the end of a day-long drama.
The recent controversy over donations by Saritha S Nair to the Kerala Police Association appears to have served a wake-up call to office-bearers of the organisation.
According to sources, the episode has forced the office-bearers to self-imposed regulations on the contributions to be received from outside agencies. Donations from people having dubious credentials should be a strict no-no from here onwards, they say.
“Mobilising money from outside, for long, has been regarded as a routine practice. This will not be the case any more,” said persons in the know of things.
The sceptics, however, seeks to point out that this was not the first time such restrictions are being imposed and held that in all probability, the restriction would go up in smoke sooner than later.
Contributions by Hiran Unnikrishnan
