Kannur: The jailbreak by notorious criminal Govindachamy from Kannur Central Prison hs exposed the blatant security lapses at the high-security jail. The preliminary probe initiated by the deputy general of prisons (north zone) has found serious lapses on the part of the prison officers.

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Three prison officers deputy prison officer Rajeesh A K, assistant prison officers Sanjay S and Akhil Charith have been placed under suspension. A detailed probe has been ordered by Balram Kumar Upadhyay, DGP (prisons) into the incident. The preliminary probe found that Govindachamy executed the jailbreak with a proper planning. Police also suspect that he got someone’s help.

Upadhyay said a detailed probe will be conducted to check all aspects, including lapses in night inspections and CCTV monitoring mechanism.

Reportedly, Govindachamy had begun his planning months ago. He reduced the consumption of rice and consumed only rotis to lose weight. However, the jail authorities failed to understand his changes. Further, he escaped by cutting the iron bars of his cell using an iron cutter.

The question arises how Govindachamy was able to cut the iron rods as it would take hours to cut the bars. It also remains unclear from where he got the iron cutter.

Police said he made a rope using cloths and bedsheets of other jail inmates to climb the wall. This raises suspicions about jail officials’ failure in ensuring strict monitoring in the high-security 10th block where he was lodged. The block has a separate compound wall apart from the main wall of the jail. He could not escape without scaling both the walls. This shows the failure of the CCTV system and the patrolling inside the jail.