PETALING JAYA, May 5 — A man remanded for drug offences is on the run after Kulai police mistakenly released him instead of another detainee due to confusion over their names.

It is understood 41-year-old T. Ganapati, also known as Ganesh, was freed on April 27, a day before his remand order expired, as his name and that of the detainee in the next cell, known only as “Ganeson”, were similar.

Apparently, a policeman had called out for “Ganesh” but Ganapati had responded and was signed out of the cell.

The mistake was only realised the next day when a narcotics officer assigned to take Ganapati to the magistrate’s court in Kulai found him missing from the lockup.

A police source said Ganapati from Ulu Tiram, Johor, was nabbed for possessing 45.15g of heroin and 1.45g of syabu on April 21 and remanded until April 28.

“The officer who was assigned to bring Ganapati to the court to extend his remand order realised the suspect was no longer in the lockup,” he said.

The source said Ganapati had upon his release visited his sister and took RM40 from her before leaving for Senai, Johor.

During the incident, 56 detainees were being held at the police station and guarded by two constables, two lance corporals and a corporal.

“The corporal was the warden in charge for the day. She will be investigated along with other policemen on duty that day,” he added.

The source said police will investigate if policemen on duty had followed the standard operating procedure on the release of a detainee at the lockup.

Kulai police chief Supt Razak Md Said confirmed the incident.

However, he declined to comment further.

Resource : Malay Mail Online