Patna, July 16: A youth hurled two crude bombs at a prison van on the civil court premises in Hajipur this morning in an unsuccessful bid to free an undertrial, injuring a woman constable and exposing the gaping holes in security.
The explosions were triggered around 10.45am when a van from Hajipur divisional prison arrived at the court premises, around 25km north from here. Police said the youth wanted to free one Santlal Sah, in prison for the past six months and facing trial in a robbery case.
The youth fled after triggering the blasts but Sah could not. Two more crude bombs were recovered from a red and a green bag from the court premises.
An FIR has been lodged at Vaishali police station. Two persons, including an elderly woman, have been detained.
A police officer said: “The prison van entered the main gate of the court around 10.30am and proceeded towards the lock-up, around 250 to 300m away. When the van stopped, the police officers on duty directed the prisoners to get out and go to the lock-up. The fifth prisoner to get off was Ratan Kumar Singh, a co-accused of Sah. As soon as he got out, a man in his twenties standing nearby hurled two bombs towards the van.”
The blasts prompted complete chaos on the court premises. The area usually remains crowded because the offices of the district magistrate, additional district magistrate and senior officers are nearby.
Sah took advantage of the commotion to escape but could not go very far. “The police sealed the main gate and a search operation was launched. Within half-an-hour, Sah was found hiding near the fast track court 2,” said Vaishali superintendent of police Suresh Prasad Choudhary.
Another officer said: “The two persons detained are Mahavidya Devi and Devanand Rai. The youth who hurled the bombs had come on a motorbike (BR-31E-8168) with two bags of fruits and vegetables. He managed to escape by scaling the southern end of the court’s boundary wall.”
Choudhary, the SP, said the youth would be arrested soon as he had been identified. “No inmate has managed to escape,” he added.
A senior officer said investigations would be conducted to find out how Sah managed to run away briefly despite five policemen being in charge of the prison van.
