Nabha jailbreak mastermind Romy shifted to Amritsar jail

PATIALA: Nabha jailbreak mastermind Ramanjit Singh Romy, who was extradited from Hong Kong and sent to New Jail Nabha last month, has now been shifted to Central Jail Amritsar due to security reasons.
Nabha jail officials confirmed the development that Romy was shifted to Amritsar jail; however, they refused to divulge any further details.
After being presented before the Nabha judicial magistrate by a Punjab police team, Romy was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody on the morning of August 23, following his medical examination.He was kept in the ‘High Security’ zone of New Jail Nabha under tight vigil in the vicinity of the jail. A senior police officer revealed that Romy’s judicial custody was further extended by another 14 days; however, no questioning has been conducted in the case so far.
According to Romy’s counsel, the police cannot obtain a remand for interrogation or questioning in the case, as per the extradition treaty and the undertaking by the police in this matter.
Notably, Nabha Maximum Security Jail, where the jailbreak took place in 2016, has been under renovation for the past year.
Jailbreak, escapees and sentences:
On November 27, 2016, at 9 am, a group of six gangsters stormed Nabha Maximum Security Jail and managed to help six inmates escape. The jail officials were overpowered, and an SLR rifle belonging to a security guard was snatched. A case was registered at Kotwali Nabha against 15 accused, including jail officials, and later UAPA was invoked, which prevented any of the arrested from securing bail during the trial. They spent around six years in jail.
The escapees included militant Harminder Singh alias Mintoo from Dali village, Jalandhar, who was arrested a month after the escape but died of cardiac arrest in Patiala Central Jail in April 2018; gangster Vicky Gounder, who was later killed in a police encounter in January 2018 in Sri Ganganagar; and accused Amandeep Singh Dhotiyan from Sarhali, Tarn Taran; Gurpreet Singh Sekhon from Mudki village, Ferozepur; Kulpreet Singh Neeta Deol from Moga; and Kashmir Singh, who is still at large.
In March 2023, the Patiala Additional Sessions Judge convicted 22 accused in this case, while six others were acquitted.
The court, however, discharged all the accused from UAPA charges but convicted them under various sections of the IPC, including dacoity, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and under the Arms Act and NDPS Act. Both jail officials, then Assistant Superintendent Bhim Singh and Head Warder Jagmeet Singh, were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for negligence of duty and criminal conspiracy. Two convicts, Sukhchain Singh and Bikkar Singh, were sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.