Soumya rape and murder convict Govindachamy escaped Kerala's Kannur Central Prison by scaling its towering wall. It was not a random hit-or-miss jailbreak but one that involved meticulous planning, a probe found out after he was captured hours after the escape on Friday.
VIDEO | Kannur, Kerala: Govindachamy, a convict serving a life sentence in the sensational 2011 Soumya murder case, who escaped from the high-security Kannur Central Jail on Friday morning was nabbed by police several hours later. The convict, who does not have a left hand, was… pic.twitter.com/OMivNZ7kda
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 25, 2025
Govindachamy avoided having rice in prison for weeks and survived on rotis (chapatti) in order to lose body weight. Given that inmates' diets and consumption are monitored, he secured a medical letter from the jail doctor, it was reported. If he had managed to squeeze himself through a couple of cut jail bars, he had to become lean, and avoiding rice-based food was key, he understood.
സ്പോട്ടിൽ തന്നെ പൊട്ടിച്ചു.. 😂💥
— Kerala Trends (@KeralaTrends2) July 25, 2025
Rape convict #Govindachamy, who made a daring escape from Kannur Central Prison, was dramatically nabbed by Kerala police hours later, found hiding in a well. pic.twitter.com/LXlKOpSLb1
He exercised heavily during these days to further burn calories and to become fit for the jailbreak, Malayalam media reports said. While he had started cutting the jail bars well in advance, Govindachamy used strings to ensure the process remained hidden during inspections. During the process that took months, Govindachamy first applied salt to the bottom of the bars to promote oxidation so that it became easy to cut them.
He also accessed a blade through a fellow prisoner who was on kitchen duty. However, it was a hacksaw blade that was used to cut the bars. Construction works were in full flow in the Kannur jail recently, and it is from one of the sites that he accessed the tool, 24 News said in a report.
He had gathered clothes of prisoners who left after serving their sentences and even stole some that were put on clotheslines to dry. Once out, he quickly changed his jail uniform to avoid detection, 24 News added.
CCTV footage aired on channels showed a man resembling Govindachamy walking on the roadside with a bundle on top of his head, inside which he had tucked in his left arm, which is missing a hand. Shortly thereafter, a police team, including the sniffer dog, reached the area and inspected a derelict building at Thalap here where the convict was suspected to be hiding. While the police were searching for him, there was a sudden commotion and calls to "surround and catch him" -- according to live visuals aired by TV channels -- and soon he was pulled out, shirtless, from the well near the building.
Govindachamy was convicted of the brutal killing of Soumya, who was attacked while travelling alone on a passenger train. The case shocked the nation and sparked widespread debate over women's safety on public transport.
