Bhai Jinda’s Great Escape Part 1: Schemes
By Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda
Capture
When I was arrested for the first time on Nov 17, 1985, the Gujrat Police were accompanying the Delhi Police. The Gurjat Police were the ones who had found the clues that led them to us. The scooter I had used when robbing the Government Bank in Gujrat was bought under the name of Daljit Singh Babbu, a relative of mine in Delhi. Someone used the scooter to track down my relative and my relative led them to me.
The day I was caught, we had had booked evening tickets for the train to Bombay but I was captured in the morning. For four or five days, they kept me underground (didn’t declare the arrest) and they tortured me to their hearts content, but I had God’s grace (and didn’t reveal anything).
Remand and Jail
After a few days of police remand, I was sent to Tihar Jail in Delhi. After 15 or 20 days, the Gujrat Police took me to Ahmedabad. I was presented before a judge and the police asked for 15 days remand. The Judge asked me, “do you have anything to say about the remand?”
I replied, “however much the police asks, give it to them…”
The judge laughed and replied, “You are the first person I’ve met who has said such a thing.”
Afterwards, I was presented before the Police Commissioner. The Commissioner asked me to take a seat and ordered some tea, etc. for me and asked a few questions.
During my remand, my older brother Nirbhail Singh and brother-in-law Inderjit Singh Judge got permission to meet me. The Gurjat Police didn’t say anything to me. After that, they sent me to the Ahmedabad Jail.
Schemes
A relative of mine, Nirmal Singh, came to meet me in Jail. I told Nirmal Singh to tell my friends (the other Jujharus) that I hadn’t revealed the location of any hideout. I gave Veer Nirmal Singh the addresses of a few places in Delhi because I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to find my friends or not. It was important for him to go to the house I had listed because that was a house we had rented and kept all our weapons in which we were going to use to punish the Dushts who were staying in Delhi.
I was taken to the courts from the jail in a bus, accompanied by about 20-30 policemen. Veer Nirbhail Singh and Inderjit Singh came to meet me in the Court as well. I told them that I knew the police did not keep their guns loaded and if I had just a little bit of help, I could escape. Or, if I could get admitted to a hospital, my friends would take me from there because there would only be a couple of guards on duty.
I also managed to send some messages to my friends.
I had convinced Nirmal Singh veer that even if he wasn’t able to find anyone, he should take the weapons away on a scooter.
When my companions, Sukhdev Singh, Mahtra Singh, Daljit Singh, Sandhu, Gill, Sukhvinder Singh Shindu, and Baljinder Singh Raju got my messages, they all dropped everything and began to plan for my escape.
On the other side, I too was beginning to think of schemes in jail. A few times I had given some money to the jail’s doctor and had been taken to the hospital. I was now convinced that I could escape because there, no one paid any special attention to me and the security around me was also slowly being decreased.
I was awaiting Nirmal Singh very anxiously.
The Opportunity
One day, the police were taking me to the courts. That day, only one Thanedar, One Hawaldar and two Sipahis (low rank police officers) were with me. They put me on the bus they put normal prisoners on. I saw this and was very surprised because usually 25-30 armed officers accompanied me and I had a separate bus. Why was there so little security today?
Sitting in the bus, I chatted with the other prisoners and arrived at the courts. Upon arriving, they took me before the Judge. The judge was the same one who had given the remand. Whenever I appeared before the judge, he’d ask how I was doing and meet me very happily. Upon my saying so, he’d quickly give a further date.
After appearing before the judge, the police put me back on the prison bus. For some time, a Hawaldar and a Sipahi sat near me. Two other police officers were outside the bus chatting. Soon, the two police officers sitting near me, went down to join them. Now, I was in the bus alone with only a couple other prisoners.
I was seeing this and was completely shocked. I was wondering whether this might be some kind of trick the police were playing on me. If someone gave me just a little bit of help here, I could have escaped. The other prisoners used to tell me that the police in Gujrat was very greedy. They used to also suggest ways I might escape.
Sitting in the bus, I felt the urge to run away a few times. But then I’d think that if I wasn’t successful, running away in the future would become much harder and so I needed to be patient.
I was contemplating these thoughts when the Thanedar standing below called out to me. I got off the bus and walked up to the policemen. They asked me, “What charges are you booked for?”
I was astonished that they didn’t even know who I was. They knew me otherwise but didn’t know I was the accused in the big robbery. I thought quickly and replied, “I’m from Delhi.”
It was as if my revealing this had caused a great bang and they became very interested and immediately put handcuffs on me. I immediately regretted my answer but decided to change my approach.
I said, “I’m not the person you think I am. I’m his cousin and I’ve been arrested for giving him shelter. I expect I’ll get bail by next week.”
They heard this and relaxed again. I had shot an arrow in the dark and luckily it had hit its target. The Thanedar asked me, “Don’t you know anybody around here (in Gurjat)?”
I saw an opportunity.
I replied, “In the way back to the jail, there’s a hotel owned by people I know.”
The hotel was owned by Sikhs. When the police had me in remand, they introduced me to those Sardars. They too respected me quite a bit. Whenever Bhaji Nirbhail Singh or Inderjit Singh came to meet me, they’d stay in that hotel. I had also asked them to deposit Rs. 1000 at the hotel for me so that if the police took me back to the jail on that route, I might go to the hotel and use it for an escape.
I understood what was on the police officers’ minds. They wanted to get a free meal out of someone.
I thought this was a golden opportunity. I put a little bit of pressure and in a pleasant manner said, “Lets go there and we can have something to eat and we’ll take a taxi back to the jail.”
They agreed quite quickly but they said that after eating we’d have to return back to the courts. While walking there, they insisted that no one should find out we had gone to eat at the hotel. I nodded my head in agreement to everything they said.
I saw my opportunity to escape close at hand.
To be continued...
