Nitish or Nitesh? How two men with similar names caused massive jail blunder, letting rape accused walk free

The devil is in the details, and jail authorities in Faridabad have learnt that the hard way.

In a shocking mix-up, a rape accused named Nitish Kumar Pandey managed to walk out of Neemka Jail by pretending to be another inmate with a similar name. This incident, which happened on 26 May, has exposed serious flaws in the jail’s verification system.

A tale of two names

Nitish Kumar Pandey (27), originally from Kalyanpur village in Bihar’s Patna, had been in jail since 2011. He was facing serious charges under the POCSO Act for allegedly raping a nine-year-old boy in Faridabad’s Sector 58.


On the other hand, there was Nitesh (24), a resident of Shastri Colony in Old Faridabad, who was in jail for house trespass and physical assault. The court had granted him bail on 26 May.

But because both men shared similar names, and both had fathers named Ravinder, Nitish managed to pose as Nitesh and leave the jail. No one noticed the different spellings of their names or the fact that they had different addresses and criminal cases.

Delay brings truth to light

It took nearly two days for officials to realise the mistake. The real Nitesh, still behind bars, asked why he hadn’t been released even though he had bail. By then, Nitish was long gone.

“Yes, basic verification was missed. Despite clear differences in names, addresses, and charges, the staff didn’t check properly,” a senior police officer admitted.

Jail officials suspended, investigation on

Two jail staff members who were supposed to verify identities were suspended. The administration has launched an internal inquiry and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of jail staff helping Nitish escape.

“We are checking CCTV footage. It’s possible someone inside helped him. We’ll know more after the inquiry,” the officer said.

Police hunt underway

A fresh FIR has been registered against Nitish for impersonation and obstruction. A police team has gone to Patna to look for him. "His family claims they don’t know where he is. We’re doing our best to track him down,” said Umesh Kumar, SHO of Sadar Ballabhgarh.

Meanwhile, the real Nitesh has now been released, and authorities say stricter checks will be put in place during release procedures from now on.

Inputs from agencies