New Delhi, February 17
The Delhi police has launched a massive hunt to trace Sher Singh Rana, alias Shamsher Singh, alias Pankaj, prime accused in the sensational Phoolan Devi murder case, who escaped from the high security Tihar Jail today with help of his accomplices who were posing as policemen of the third battalion of the Delhi Armed Police (DAP).

The escape came to light when a team of the DAP arrived in jail to take custody of the suspect on a production warrant. When constable Ashok went inside to take the suspect to Hardwar; he was told that the suspect had already gone along with a police team.

The police said a cash reward of Rs 50,000 had been announced for providing information that would help trace him. The police in the neighbouring states had also been alerted.

Two jail staffers, duty officer Assistant Superintendent Prem Chand and guard Ramesh Chander, have been suspended.

A magisterial inquiry has also been ordered to ascertain the circumstances in which the suspect was handed over to the fake police team and also to find out if any of the jail staff was involved in the escape.

The crime branch of the Delhi police has been ordered to investigate the matter.

According to the officials, the incident occurred around 6 a.m. when a team of half a dozen men posing as policemen arrived at the Central Tihar Jail armed with a production warrant from a court in Hardwar. One of his accomplices reportedly identified himself as constable Arvind Kumar and told the jail officials that the other team members were waiting outside. After checking the warrants and going through the routine procedure, the jail authorities handed over the suspect to them. He was whisked away in a vehicle.

However, the jail authorities came in for a shock when the real police team arrived to take him to Hardwar to produce before Special Judge of the Gangster Act. It was then discovered that the accused had escaped on fake documents. An alert was sounded and senior officers informed.

The police said Sher Singh had also earlier tried to escape from the jail by producing forged bail documents but the staff had detected these.