had been serving his sentence at the Dum Dum Cantonment, but he was moved to Midnapore Central Jail in July 2000 due to "administrative problems". In 2001, while serving his prison sentence, Sajal Barui showed signs of an alleged kidney ailment and was transferred to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital for examination. On 15 September 2001 he escaped from the hospital and was at large until early 2003. On the night of his escape, Sajal Barui hosted a beer party to which he invited the two police constables that had been put on guard to watch him. He often offered beer to the constables after it had been smuggled in by his girlfriend, so they did not suspect his motives. On that night, however, he spiked the two bottles of beer with sleeping pills and watched them fall asleep. He then walked out of the hospital unhindered. As a fugitive After escaping from the police, Sajal Barui emailed a friend in Mumbai and fled there. He married there and returned to Kolkata, leaving his wife in Asansol. He committed a number of crimes under various aliases. Police officers of the Phoolbagan and Maniktala Police Stations of Calcutta were nearly successful in recapturing Sajal Barui in early 2003, after they were able to trace his girlfriend and set up a sting operation to recapture him. However, Sajal Barui did not show up for the arranged rendezvous. Sajal Barui then took refuge in the den of a local criminal known as Hathkata Bishu (Bengali for one-armed Bishu) in Lake Town, Kolkata. He worked with Bishu, under the alias Kamal, and was responsible for a robbery in the Ultadanga area of Kolkata. As the search for Kamal intensified, Sajal Barui, migrated to Jamboni, in West Midnapore district, to work for Rajeev Meti, a local criminal. Recapture In late February 2003, a criminal who went by the name of Sheikh Raju was arrested for petty theft in the Jamboni area of West Midnapore district and was brought to Midnapore Central Jail. On 16 May 2003, after masquerading as Sheikh Raju for almost three months, this criminal was positively identified as Sajal Barui by a jailer who had met him earlier when he was serving his life sentence at the Alipore Central Jail in Kolkata. On recapture, Sajal Barui was sent to the Presidency Jail in Kolkata. Here, he formed a network with the