Chandigarh,  Deepak Tinu, an accused in the killing of famed Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and a close aide of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, escaped from the custody of the Crime Investigations Agency (CIA) of Punjab Police in a dramatic way.

It is learnt that Tinu, who was charge sheeted in the Moosewala murder case, was brought out of a jail in Mansa town by an in-charge of the CIA and was travelling in a private car on Saturday night without wearing handcuffs and other security personnel when he fled.

A senior police official, requesting anonymity, admitted his escape. He said Tinu was taken out of the jail to facilitate his meeting with someone.

Punjab police had brought him on transit remand from the Tihar jail in Delhi on July 4 in the Moosewala killing.

The role of the CIA in-charge is under suspicion and the police have kept mum on his escape.

It is still not clear why the gangster was taken out of the jail in the midnight and where he was being taken.

A massive search operation has been launched, especially on the Punjab-Rajasthan border, to nab him.

Responding to his escape, Moosewala's mother Charan Kaur blamed the police for extending special treatment to the gangsters in jails. He questioned how Tinu escaped from the jail.

Moosewala was shot dead by six-shooters at Jawaharke village in Mansa district on May 29.