The Pune police have arrested the car driver responsible for facilitating the escape of drug smuggler Lalit Patil from Sassoon Hospital, an official informed on Sunday. The driver in question has been identified as Datta Doke, who serves as the personal driver for the director of a prominent educational institution in Pune.
Santosh Patil, Senior Police Inspector of Bund Garden Police Station, confirmed that Doke was taken into custody on Saturday, and a court has granted permission to hold him in custody until October 20 for further investigation.
Who is the education group director?
According to the police, Doke was employed as a driver for the director of a renowned educational institution in Pune, who is also facing allegations in a cheating case and was admitted to Sassoon Hospital. Authorities suspect that Doke may have become acquainted with Patil during their time at the hospital. Meanwhile, the search for Patil continues.
The police authorities has, however, not disclosed the name of the director yet.
Timeline of the case
The sequence of events began when the police stumbled upon narcotics valued at Rs 2 crore near the entrance of Sassoon Hospital. Subsequent inquiries revealed that Lalit Patil, an inmate of Yerwada Jail, had been engaged in drug smuggling while receiving treatment at Sassoon Hospital. Patil successfully escaped from the hospital's treatment room on Monday, October 2, with the assistance of a car driver.
Patil was one of the individuals detained in the extensive Mephedrone drug operation in Chakan that the Pimpri Chinchwad police dismantled in October 2020. While initially confined to Yerwada Central Prison, he required medical attention in June of the current year, leading to his admission to Sassoon Hospital.
The police managed to piece together the puzzle through the examination of CCTV footage, which provided evidence of Datta Doke's involvement in Patil's escape.
