Suspected Maoist sympathiser Shambhu Majhi, 20, detained for questioning on the May 20 serial blasts in Kharsawan, Seraikela-Kharsawan, escaped police custody from Seraikela Sadar Hospital in the same district where he was being treated for a stomach wound, in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Shambhu escaped between 3am and 4am despite six policemen deployed at the hospital to guard him. All six, including an assistant sub-inspector, have been suspended. They appeared to have been asleep, though probe is on to zero in on the exact nature of their lapse.

Seraikela-Kharsawan SP Chandan Sinha said they detained Shambhu from Sini village, 10km from the Kharsawan blast site at Hundarguda forest, on May 20 itself. The serial blasts had injured three police personnel, prompting an intensive combing operation in the entire region, which provoked a Maoist landmine ambush in nearby Kuchai on Tuesday, injuring 26 policemen.

SP Sinha said Shambhu had external wounds on his stomach when he was caught, but when they started to fester, the youth was hospitalised. “He hoodwinked the police to flee from the hospital. We are probing into the incident and have suspended the six policemen deployed with him for dereliction of duty.”

Shambhu had been admitted to the hospital on May 24 and lodged in the first floor of the G+2 storey building, said a police source. He could have scaled down the hospital.

Hunt is on for Shambhu. Seraikela subdivisional police officer Avinash Kumar added that they had also sent a recommendation for disciplinary action against the six policemen, ASI Jai Prakash Yadav, constables Shambhu Kumar, Tirumuni Raimundu, Mangal Murmu, Tarun Chandra Mahto and Mangal Munda.

At Tuesday’s Kuchai blast site, district police in a joint operation with CoBRA and Jharkhand Jaguar on Wednesday defused IEDs and wires. Combing operations are on, said SP Sinha.