Even as over 48 hours have passed, the tight-lipped Maharashtra police has not been able to trace Indian Mujahideen operative Afzal Usmani (37), who had escaped from the sessions court at Kala Ghoda on Friday afternoon. The police is now planning to announce a hefty reward to anyone who helps them find the alleged terrorist.
Sources said that Usmani took a taxi from outside the court and escaped to Sewri, from where he borrowed `700 from a known person and fled to the Raigad district. However, senior police officials refused to confirm the development.
Additional commissioner Fatehsingh Patil of Navi Mumbai said, “There is no headway yet.” On Friday morning, Navi Mumbai officials escorted Usmani from Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai to the MCOCA sessions court in Mumbai.
Usmani had mysteriously escaped from the sessions court in the afternoon. While two of the officials leading the escort team have been suspended, an inquiry has been ordered to look into the lapses that led to the escape.
A team of officials and a few men at the police station level in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane districts are on the lookout for Usmani, while special teams have also been fanned across the country. The Maharashtra police has also alerted all the security agencies across India, including Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal. They have been provided with Usmani’s details and photographs.
The alleged terrorist was taken to the court for framing of charges in the 2008 Gujarat blast case where he had planted a bomb. He had allegedly stolen all the four vehicles from Navi Mumbai, which were used in the blasts.