Hyderabad cops come under scanner

MUMBAI: The city police are probing into the role of their Hyderabad counterparts, from whose custody Mehraj Rehman escaped on Tuesday.
Instead of taking Mehraj to Arthur Road Jail, the policemen, who brought him from Hyderabad, heeded to his request for lunch at a five-star hotel in Bandra. Mehraj then gave them slip.
Meanwhile, the Bandra police produced Rehman in the Bandra court on Wednesday afternoon.The court remanded him to police custody till July 4.
The city police, who are investigating Mehraj's escape, has asked the three policemen���inspector Venkateshwar Rao and constables Rakal Narasimharao and M A Razaq���to remain in the city for the time being. They have been kept at a "safe place��� in Bandra. DCP Niket Kaushik said, "Prima facie, it appears that the policemen were negligent. But we are also probing the possibility of connivance on their part."
On June 28, the Hyderabad police had taken custody of Mehraj in connection with a cheating and extortion case registered with the Begumpet police in 2006. The police were to transfer him back to Arthur Road Jail on Tuesday.
After Mehraj escaped from custody, the local police traced him to a news channel's office in Mahalaxmi, where he aired his views about Sanjay Dutt and Manyata. Mehraj claims to be Manyata's first husband.
In the court, Rehman alleged that he had paid Rs 50,000 to the policemen who accompanied him for a "comfortable journey���.
The Bandra police are investigating how the policemen allowed Rehman to use a mobile phone of theirs, through which he called two reporters to the hotel for an interview.
In his statement to the Bandra police, sub-inspector Venkateshwar Rao said while placing the order for food, a journalist entered and sat next to them. When the scribe left, Rehman went to the restroom. The police later recorded the statement of the journalist who visited the hotel.
When the Hyderabad policemen failed to clear the bill, the hotel staff approached the reporter who was at the gate and asked him to clear the bill. They had an argument over the bill after the which the journalist informed the police. By then, Rehman had left in a taxi for the news channel's office.
The Hyderabad policemen later lodged a complaint of cheating against Mehraj for not paying the food bill of Rs 10,847.