The daring jailbreak by Govindachamy, alias Charley Thomas, a rape-murder convict serving a double life sentence with no scope for parole at the Kannur Central Jail, appears to have the broad contours of a comparably audacious prison escape, which riveted public attention and put the State law enforcement in Kerala on the defensive in 2013.

On July 11, 2013, ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan, a death row prisoner accused of eight murders for gain and 14 burglaries, made a daring midnight escape from the Central Prison, Thiruvananthapuram.

His cellmate, ‘Oopa’ Rajesh, who was serving a few months for burglary, “curiously” joined Jayanandan in the risky breakout.

Officials privy to the case said Jayanandan possibly brainwashed Rajesh into joining him because the latter, serving a brief sentence, had little incentive to escape.

Jayanandan had earned notoriety in Kerala’s Prisons and Correctional Services department for having made a botched attempt to dig out of the Central Prison, Viyyur, in 2009, through the toilet inside his jail cell.

The police had categorised Jayanandan as a serial killer with a profound antisocial personality disorder and an escape risk. The prison department transferred Jayanandan to the Central Prison in Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram.

Consequently, jail authorities incarcerated Jayanandan in the prison’s isolated high-security block, which also housed “terror suspect” Thadiyantevida Nazeer.

Escape pattern

Officials said Govindachamy prima facie appeared to adopt at least a few elements of Jayanandan’s escape pattern.

Retired Circle Inspector C. Mohanan, who was part of the investigation team led by K.E. Baiju, currently District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural), told The Hindu, that Jayanandan and ‘Oopa’ Rajesh took turns to saw through the cylindrical “dead latch” with a hacksaw blade, possibly smuggled into the cell from the prison’s workshop, a technique reportedly adopted by Govindachamy in Kannur.

Quoting court filings, Mr. Mohanan said Jayanandan and his fellow escapee scaled the relatively low wall of the high security block. The escapees then proceeded to the prison’s infirmary, where they stole bedsheets and towels left out to dry on the clothesline to jury-rig a rope.

Mr. Mohanan recollected that prisoners used bamboo poles, which were used as supports for fruit-laden banana trees in the expansive walled compound, to assemble a crude ladder.

“They used the ladder to scale the wall and employed the hastily improvised cloth rope to abseil down the lofty parapet and make a dash for freedom,” he added.

Mr. Mohanan said Jayanandan had outside help and regularly received money orders from his family. Both prisoners split ways after making good their escape. The police arrested Rajesh a fortnight later near his house at Karunagapally in Kollam district.

However, Jayanandan continued to remain elusive.

Two other serving plainclothes officers, who were part of Mr. Baiju’s team and insisted on anonymity, citing service rules, said Jayanandan hid in a remote cashew nut plantation abutting the railway tracks near Veli for several days, surviving on raw nuts and water.

“He surfaced only after a week when he felt the heat of the frenzied manhunt was incrementally receding,” one said.

The officers said Jayanandan possibly used stolen boats and inland waterways to reach Thrissur, where he falsified his identity to secure contract jobs at freshwater prawn farms.

Jayanandan’s bold break for freedom ended on September 9, 2013. Mr. Baiju’s plainclothes squad arrested him at Nellayi in Thrissur while attempting to get a bicycle repaired.