A 28-year-old man allegedly involved in ATM robberies escaped from a hospital where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.
Devendra Patel, a kingpin of a gang that looted Rs 46 lakh from ATMs, fled from the district hospital on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, Damoh superintendent of police Hemant Chauhan said.
Jail personnel were deployed at the hospital to guard the accused who had tested positive for the infection after his arrest last month, the official said, adding that a hunt has been launched to nab the escapee.
Patel, a civil engineering graduate, was the mastermind of the six-member gang that had robbed seven ATMs in Damoh, Panna, Jabalpur and Katni districts with the help of explosives.
