Buxar jail escapee Sonu Pandey arrested after 8 months

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : Bhojpur police, on a tip off, arrested a convict and absconder from the Buxar Central jail Sonu Pandey along with his two aides from Gangi locality under Town police station, Ara,  in the afternoon on August 8, 2017, when they were going to commit crime somewhere. Police also seized two 9 mm and one 7.65 mm loaded countrymade pistols, 17 live rounds, six magazines  and a pulsar motorcycle from their possession. Sonu Pandey had escaped from the Buxar Central Jail in December 2016 along with four other inmates of the jail.

Sonu Pandey, son of Bikrama Pandey, is a resident of Kesari-Dhangai under Dhangai police station while his two aides: Anup Kumar, son of Ashok Kumar Singh, is a resident of Laxmipur village under Ayar police station, and Abhimanyu Kumar Singh alias Mannu, is son of Janardan Singh of village Bairahi village under Jagdishpur police station.

Bhojpur SP Awkash Kumar said that he was informed that some wanted criminals in the Buxar Central Jail break case were seen in Gangi locality under Town police station. He immediately formed a police team under SDPO Sanjay Kumar that started vehicle checking in Gangi area. Seeing  police, Sonu Pandey and his aides tried to escape on his red pulsar motorcycle but police chased and arrested them. He said that the motorcycle was also stolen as they could not show the papers of the vehicles.

The SP said that Sonu Pandey along with four others: Upendra Sah of Dalippur under Jagdishpur police station, Devdhari Rai of Chhapra, Prajeet Singh of Motihari and Sonu Singh of Brahmpur in Buxar had escaped from Buxar Central Jail after jumping from the wall of the jail in the midnight on December 30, 2016.

The SP said that Sonu Pandey, arrested eight months after his escape from the Buxar Central Jail, was convicted in the kidnapping and murder of two persons. He had kidnapped and killed Satyendra Pandey of Dhangai village on October 1, 2012. He was awarded life imprisonment in murder of Satyendra Pandey in 2014.  When he was in Ara jail, Sonu Pandey killed a former Mukhia Upendra Chaudhary of Kesari village under Dhangai police station inside Ara jail in October 2014.  . Sonu Pandey and Upendra Sah, who was also undergoing life imprisonment, were sent to  Buxar Central Jail from Ara jail in 2014 from where they escaped along with three others. Upendra Sah is still absconding.

The SP said that Anup Kumar, who was arrested along with Sonu Pandey, also had criminal history. He was wanted in murder, loot and Arms Act cases and was absconding. Abhimanyu Singh too has criminal background.