Saharanpur: A police team on Saturday reached Bhim Army national president Vinay Ratan's house and put up a court order on the wall declaring Ratan as an absconder.
The team, after reaching the residence in Fatehpur village of Saharanpur, talked to Ratan's mother and another person in the house before they put up the poster.
When they went back to their police station, the team was alerted to a viral video which said that they were talking to Ratan and then went on to put up a wanted poster of him outside his own house.
This is when police officers realised that the other person they talked to in Ratan's house was the wanted accused himself.
The Saharanpur SSP on Monday ordered an inquiry into the episode.
Ratan, 35, was wanted for violence and arson in connection with the caste clash in the district in May 2017. Police had also announced a Rs 12,000-reward on his head.
Ratan surrendered before a local court on Monday, but the inquiry ordered by the SSP would continue to probe the video, police officials said.
Talking to The Indian Express, Fatehpur police station house officer (SHO) Bhanu Pratap Singh explained the gaffe, "While the police team, comprising two sub-inspectors and three constables, was busy executing the court order, Ratan’s mother came with a man who she introduced as her younger son, Sachin. Since none of the policemen in the team had ever seen Vinay Ratan earlier, they did not recognise him and didn’t arrest him. Vinay Ratan does not have a criminal history under our jurisdiction."
"A few hours after the team returned, we came to know through media and locals that the man was, in fact, Vinay Ratan. A police team rushed to arrest him, but he had already left by then," the SHO added.
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