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7 cops suspended in
Rajan escape case: PTI

"I have asked the police to find out the truth about allegations that a 25 million baht (Rs 25 million) bribe was paid," Chuan told reporters in Bangkok. He expressed regret over the incident and said, "We hope India will understand the situation."

Police chief Pornsak Durongkaviboon said seven Thai security personnel were suspended after a probe into the conduct of the men who were on duty when Rajan slipped out of the Bangkok hospital room where he was being treated for gunshot wounds sustained during an attack by men of rival don Dawood Ibrahim.

Deputy police chief Sant Sarutanont said an investigation would begin into allegations that Rajan bribed his way out of Thailand, where he was awaiting extradition to India.

He said the probe to find out whether anyone else is involved with Rajan's escape and into accusations relating to the bribe will take a week.

Meanwhile, Immigration police chief Lt General Hemraj Thareethai denied police taking a bribe to help Rajan on his way out of Thai police custody. "I insist that there was no middleman, especially a police lieutenant general."

Rajan's former lawyer Sirichai Piyapichetkul had claimed on Saturday that Rajan telephoned him from somewhere in the southern province of Thailand, near the sea, saying that he used the emergency exit at the Samitivej hospital to walk out to freedom after paying the bribe.

A day before the Thai police had said that Rajan alias Vijay Kadam used knotted bed-sheets to climb down from the window of his hospital room.

An initial police probe into the case has found the official from the immigration police unit normally stationed at the elevator at the hospital had not shown up for his assignment, The Nation newspaper said.

Seven policemen usually stood guard at the Samitivej hospital -- four outside the room, two in the alley below the fourth floor room and one at the elevator -- as security.

Another daily, the Bangkok Post quoted the immigration chief as saying that he had not wanted to visit Rajan at the hospital for fear that he would be accused of extorting money from him.

Hemraj denied the Thai police had slowed the deportation to allow negotiations over the bribe. He told the Post that he had tried to speed up the process but the response from the Indian authorities had been slow.

"The attorney-general's office had asked the court to deport Rajan to India on October 14, but the immigration bureau had not received an answer from India until November 17," the Post said.

It added that the police said Rajan escaped shinning down a rope. "They claim relatives paid 20,000 baht for mountaineering gear at a store in Bangkok's Sukhumvit area," the paper said.

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