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.
