ATM bomber escapes from custody in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh, is Covid super-spreader

BHOPAL: The civil engineer arrested for blowing up ATMs and looting half a crore rupees broke out of his handcuffs and escaped from custody in MP’s Damoh in the wee hours of Tuesday, a fortnight after a massive investigation led to his arrest.


Accused Devendra Patel, 28, is a Covid patient and was admitted to a hospital in Damoh, which is also his home district.

Apart from the fact that he is a fugitive from law, Patel’s escape is alarming because he seems to be a ‘super spreader’ of the virus. At least 20 police personnel involved in his security and some of his gang members had caught the infection from him and are admitted to the same Covid centre.

The sensational escape came to light around 4am when another of the ATM-bomber gang, who too is Corona positive, informed the two jail guards posted outside the ward that Patel wasn’t in his bed. KK Kori, assistant jail superintendent of Damoh, said, “He had opened handcuffs, which were locked to his bed. The Covid ward was locked from the outside and only hospital nurses had access to it. He did not break the handcuffs, but opened them.” Jail guard Swaraj Pathak, who was on duty during the time of escape, has been suspended.

The alarm was sounded and police teams have spread out to look for him, but capturing him may not be easy as he knows the district and nearby areas very well. Damoh SP Hemant Chauhan said, “We have started the search and he will be arrested soon.”

Patel is accused of blowing up seven ATMs in Damoh, Jabalpur, Panna and Katni over a period of a year, netting over Rs 46 lakh. His last hit was at an ATM in Simaria village of Panna on July 19. By then, police in several districts were already looking for the gang. Extensive analysis of call records, CCTV footage, internet records and even tower dump data had failed to yield any clue.In the end, it was an empty whiskey bottle and a small piece of a broken number plate that helped cops zero in on suspects. They pieced together pieces of the number plate in a 5km search of road and roadside to get the registration number of a motorcycle, which led cops to a key member of the gang and then to Patel.

The six-member gang was rounded up on July 26 and police seized Rs 25.5 lakh in cash, fake currency of face value Rs 3 lakh, two pistols and explosives from them.

Police were stunned to realise that Patel was an engineer, who had tried his luck at IAS exams twice.