NDPS accused escapes from Falakata PS sans any trace

Alipurduar: In a dramatic and almost cinematic turn of events, a female accused in an NDPS case escaped from Falakata Police Station early Wednesday morning, evading authorities. The incident occurred at around 7:50 am at Alipurduar’s Falakata Police Station.

The accused, Momtaz Sultana, was arrested last Monday in Jateshwar for possession of prohibited narcotic substances. Following her arrest, she was produced before the Alipurduar District Court and remanded to three-day police custody. According to police sources, Sultana claimed that she was unwell after visiting the toilet on Wednesday morning. She was allowed to sit in the child corner by the on-duty female civic volunteer and sentry. Seizing a brief moment of inattention, she ran out of the police station and vanished without a trace.

The escape triggered immediate chaos at the police station. A combing operation was launched through the narrow lanes of Falakata, but as of the latest reports, the accused remains at large. Questions have been raised about the inadequacy of police vigilance at the time of the incident.

The investigation has been assigned to Jaigaon SDPO Prashant Debnath. CCTV footage from the police station is under review and has been circulated among police units in Alipurduar and the neighboring Cooch Behar district in an effort to track her movements.

District Superintendent of Police Y Raghubamshi said: “An incident occurred in which a female accused escaped from Falakata Police Station while the sentry was changing duty. SDPO Jaigaon is probing potential negligence by the duty officer, sentry constable, and other personnel present. Intensified searches are ongoing to apprehend her.”

On September 22, based on a tip-off, OC Joteswar and his team had arrested Momtaz Sultana and her husband Maminul Islam, seizing 33,600 Pevon Spas Plus capsules. A case under the appropriate sections of the NDPS Act has been registered against the couple.