Agartala: The Tripura government has constituted a high-powered inquiry committee led by a retired judge of the High Court to investigate the escape of under-trial Turkish conman Hakan Zanburkan. Zanburkan, with the help of his accomplices, had allegedly siphoned off huge amount of money from ATM machines by hacking pin codes of credit and debit cards through a device placed secretly in ATMs. The case had rattled the state and a number of cases were registered, especially in West Agartala police station, following which he was arrested.
Zanburkan was shifted to the Central Correctional Home in Bishalgarh as an under-trial. However, on July 09 last year, he succeeded to escape the police’s security dragnet after he was brought to an Agartala based hospital for treatment after he complained of health complications. He reportedly escaped from the hospital's toilet window.
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Speaking on the developments on the case, state Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said the state cabinet has constituted a two-member probe panel to find the persons responsible for the incident and if whether there was any dereliction or negligence of duty that led to Zankurban's escape.
“Retired High Court justice SC Das has been appointed as the chairman of the committee and retired judicial officer BK Kilikdar has been named as a member of the committee”, Nath said.
Giving out details on the developments in the case, Nath said three accused have been arrested — a Turkish and two Bangladesh nationals — Setal Aldemir, Md Rafiqul Islam and Md Hannan respectively. “All of them are now in jail custody”, he added.
Sources in the police department said 10 people, including a surrendered militant, have been picked for interrogation for facilitating the escape. They also said Zankurban had managed to cross the border and was underground in Bangladesh.
