High Court directs DG & IGP to form a team to trace 26 absconding convicts

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the State Director-General and Inspector-General of Police to constitute a team under the supervision of an Additional Director-General or Inspector-General of Police to ensure appropriate steps to effectively trace 26 convicts who are absconding after being released on parole.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant M. Patel and Justice N.K. Sudhindrarao passed the order on noticing that despite a lapse of three years since the court had issued a direction for nabbing all the convicts who failed to return to prison at the end of their parole.

As of February 2014, 42 convicts were absconding after being released from prison on parole. In a status report submitted to the court, the prison authorities stated that 14 of these convicts have been arrested while two died.

The remaining 26 are absconding as on May 2017. Separate criminal cases have been booked against the absconding convicts and the people who stood surety for them. The Bengaluru city Police Commissioner, in his report, stated that efforts were being made by the jurisdictional police to trace the convicts who were residents of Bengaluru.