KANNUR: In a shocking security lapse, Govindachamy alias Charley Thomas — convicted in the 2011 rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman — escaped from the high-security block of Kannur Central Prison early Friday morning. The 41-year-old life convict, whose left arm is amputated, was found hours later hiding inside a well on the premises of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in Thalap.
Kannur City Police Commissioner P. Nithin Raj confirmed that the escape occurred between 4:15 and 6:30 a.m. The jailbreak was discovered during the routine morning roll call, after prison officer trainees noticed clothes hanging from the prison wall along the national highway.
According to police, Govindachamy managed to cut through the iron bars of his cell using a metal cutter and created a makeshift rope from bedsheets and cloth to scale the six-metre prison wall. Shockingly, the wall — which is equipped with an electric fence — was reportedly unpowered at the time of the escape.
Jail authorities remain baffled as to how Govindachamy managed to breach such heavy security alone. A preliminary investigation revealed serious lapses, leading to the suspension of three prison officials who were on duty during the incident.
Following a statewide manhunt, Govindachamy was tracked down after a local resident, Vinoj, spotted a suspicious man walking along a road in Thalap. “He looked like a beggar and was walking slowly. When I called out his name, he immediately ran into a narrow alley and jumped over a wall,” Vinoj recalled.
The police verified his identity through CCTV footage from the area. A joint operation involving officers, locals, and a dog squad intensified the search. M. Unnikrishnan, a staff member at the NSSO, spotted Govindachamy inside a well during a routine check of the premises. He was apprehended with the help of police and local residents.
Govindachamy was taken to the Kannur town police station, medically examined, and brought back to the central prison for evidence collection. Later, he was presented before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kannur and remanded for 14 days. He is expected to be transferred to the high-security Viyyur Central Prison in Thrissur.
A native of Virudhachalam in Tamil Nadu, Govindachamy was convicted for the brutal crime that horrified the nation in 2011. The victim, a young woman travelling alone on a passenger train from Ernakulam to Shoranur, was pushed off the train and sexually assaulted on the railway tracks. She succumbed to her injuries in the hospital, sparking nationwide outrage and calls for improved women’s safety on public transport.
