Murder convict escapes from TVM prison in 1991, returns to spend 'retirement' life

The open prison at Nettukaltheri in Thiruvananthapuram had a visitor earlier this week. A 65-year-old man casually strolled in and told the guard he was a prisoner on parole. The guard was curious. “Did you break the parole period?,” he asked. The man replied, “A bit, please let me in, there was a delay”. The guard pressed on. “How long?”. “34 years, records would confirm,” he said.

Documents showed that a murder convict named Bhaskaran had escaped from prison in 1991. It set off a verification process which concluded on Wednesday and he was transferred to the central prison, Poojapura. The prison authorities were initially skeptical about his identity. All he had with him was an Aadhaar card which showed that his name was Ramdas. The records only showed a case number and quantum of punishment.

“He told us that he was convicted for murder in 1991. He had killed a woman who lived with him at Nemom. We didn’t have photos of prisoners in our records. The case happened three decades ago. He said he wanted to spend the rest of his life in prison,” said a prison official. The authorities sent letters to various police stations as part of the verification process. A communication from Manjeshwar Police station confirmed that it was the same convict who had escaped in 1991.

Bhaskaran had moved to Kasaragod, assumed a new identity and got married. His wife died a few years ago and his children shifted to Kasaragod. “He didn’t say much. He kept saying he wanted to stay in prison from now on. We completed the formalities and readmitted him to Central prison, Poojapura,” the official said. Manjeshwar police managed to track down one of his relatives who confirmed his identity and a report was sent to the prison.

Bhaskaran told the authorities that he was undergoing treatment for varicose vein and he had no other health issues. He was subjected to a medical check-up before he was shifted to central prison. “It was a strange incident, because we haven’t had many such instances where a parole prisoner returned to jail after such a long time and that too expressing a wish to spend remaining life in prison,” an official said.