TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: An escaped drug convict who eluded officials for 12 years was taken into custody late Thursday night.
Anti Narcotics sleuths arrested Babani Basu, 54, between 7:30pm and 9:30pm while he was wandering at Arambol.
Basu had escaped from custody on November 4, 1999 when he was being taken for medical treatment after he complained of an ailment.
He had served three years and eight months of 20-year sentence for illegal possession of cocktail of drugs at the Aguada Jail at the time of his escape. He was also slapped a fine of Rs 2-lakh and in default he was asked to undergo additional four years imprisonment, making it a total of 24 years in jail.
Addressing a press conference at police head quarters Friday evening, ANC DySP Rohidas Patre said the accused will be handed over to the Agassaim police as it was investigating the case pertaining to his escape under section 224 of IPC.
“He had escaped from the custody under the pretext of medical problems. He was since untraceable… This Thursday night when the ANC team was patrolling Arambol, they found a person walking and identified the fugitive,” Patre said.
Basu was immediately apprehended and taken into custody for interrogation. Patre said the convict revealed during questioning that he would travel to Goa during his escape and that he was staying at ‘Blue Du’ rented premises at Arambol for the past one year.
Basu lived in Kullu district before staying here but the business he carried out there is not known yet. Patre said they would communicate with their counterparts for information on the drug peddler.
While in
In 1996, Basu was caught with 120 gms charas, 20 dots LSD, 60 strips of LSD, 20 tablets of Ecstasy and three grams of Ecstasy powder, which was then costing Rs 71, 600.