Almost a month before the two South Korean nationals — Choi Youngsuk and Choe Jaewon — vanished from custody from near Chennai, which came to light on November 3, 2021, the Tamil Nadu police were aware of their escape plan, investigation has revealed.
They even had information that the duo had booked flight tickets from Bengaluru to Imphal through Kolkata and planned to escape in a car to Bengaluru in the third week of October 2021.
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However, despite the specific input, the foreign nationals, arrested in connection with a multi-crore GST evasion case, escaped dramatically from the 8th floor of a residential apartment at Oragadam in Chengalpet district.
A perusal of the two First Information Reports registered by the Palur police reveals that S. Arunkumar, who drove a car for the South Korean nationals before their arrest and also served them with basic supplies while under detention, gave a written complaint to the police on October 10, 2021, that the duo had planned to escape from custody.
He said that on September 23, 2021, they gave him ₹20,000 for purchasing two flight tickets from Bengaluru to Imphal through Kolkata for October 14, 2021, in the names of Ginthansang and Chinngaihlal. They even gave Aadhaar cards to support the identity of the two unidentified passengers.
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But Mr. Arunkumar had a suspicion when the accused persons wanted a car for travelling to Bengaluru at 11 p.m. on October 13, 2021. They parried questions when he wanted to know how they could travel while being in police custody. Sensing foul play, he lodged a complaint with the local police and submitted proof of the flight plan.
Though the Palur police registered a case against the two foreign nationals under Section 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to lawful apprehension) and 511 (attempting to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code, no arrest was made. The Chengalpet district police received intelligence that the two suspects had planned to escape, besides an advisory that security be tightened, police sources said.
However, the escape of Choi Youngsuk and Choe Jaewon was detected on November 3, 2021, when constable Vasantharajan, who was on guard duty, informed his superior officer that there was no response from the flat when he knocked the door upon joining duty on rotation. When a police team reached the spot and opened the door in the presence of revenue officials, the two accused persons were not available. It was not clear why the police did not arrest them after registering the case on the escape plan and why the police deployed on guard duty on different shifts failed to verify the presence of the accused in the flat for many days, the sources said. Police investigators believe the suspects would have escaped by climbing down from the 8thfloor of the apartment through drainage pipes into a vacant flat a couple of floors below and escaped from there. But how they could open the locked flat and who provided them the key is under investigation. The role of some local people and staff of the South Korean embassy was under the scanner, the sources said.
The investigation revealed that they escaped from the flat between October 28 and October 30 and went to Bengaluru from where they took a flight to Imphal. The possibility of the accused crossing the international land border in Imphal into Myanmar and then to South Korea through Thailand or some other country could not be ruled out, the sources added.
The Korean nationals were arrested in 2019 for tax evasion to the tune of a few crores of rupees and lodged in the special camp in Tiruchi. Their plea for private accommodation at their own cost was allowed by the Supreme Court which directed the Tamil Nadu police to take appropriate steps. The Chengalpet district police had deployed a guard in front of the flat in which they had moved in.
Transferring the case to the CBI, the Madras High Court in a recent order said the case had international ramifications, and therefore, the local police would not be able to properly investigate it and bring back the fugitives. The CBI has re-registered the two cases and launched an investigation into the circumstances that led to the escape of the South Korean nationals.