According to police, Abdullah, hailing from Ernakulam, Kerala, had been convicted for drug trafficking and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was lodged in the Nashik Central Jail. On February 28 he was escorted by Nashik police to Kerala for a hearing of another offence in the court.

After the hearing, Assistant Police Inspector Lahanu Dagdu Phuge, police constables Shankar Trimbak Kale, Bhaskar Damodar Malle and Dilawar Hatif Shaikh were escorting Abdullah (Prisoner No 2617) back to Nashik, in a train. As the train, Mangalam Express, slowed down near Igatpuri railway station in the early hours of Tuesday, Abdullah told the police party that he wanted to go to the toilet.

As the handcuffed Abdullah was being taken to the toilet within the compartment, he pushed the cops and jumped from the moving train. When the train halted at the Igatpurirailway station, the police party lodged a complaint with the railway police after a search for the fugitive turned futile. The four policemen have been booked for negligence.