How a TV show on Kerala’s wanted criminals helped police nab convict on the run

Undergoing life imprisonment for murdering a 15-year-old girl after a bid to steal her gold jewellery, the accused K Rajesh had escaped from an open prison in Nettukalthery in Thiruvananthapuram district

Days after a gruesome human sacrifice story came to the fore in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta area, a news channel Mathrubhumi aired a show on most wanted criminals of Kerala last week.

The convict had escaped from prison in 2020. (File image)

What stood apart is the fact that the show helped Kerala police nab a dreaded criminal who had been on the run from jail for the past two years, a senior official said.

Undergoing life imprisonment for murdering a 15-year-old girl after a bid to steal her gold jewellery, the accused K Rajesh had escaped from an open prison in Nettukalthery in Thiruvananthapuram district in December 2020 along with another inmate Sreenivasan, a native of Tamil Nadu.

Jail authorities had shifted a few convicts to the open jail when Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak in the country but some of the prisoners exploited the situation and escaped, a senior jail official said.

Though his accomplice was arrested after two months there was no trace of Rajesh, who was also involved in many theft cases, for almost two years.

In Mathrubhumi series called “Most Wanted” which was aired last Friday and Saturday carried the missing case of Rajesh prominently and a person from Kerala settled in Kollur in Karnataka happened to watch the show. He then identified Rajesh, who was working as a rubber tapping employee at a private estate under a false name.

He immediately alerted his friend a sub inspector in Karnataka police, who then informed higher officials and sent his photos to jail authorities in Thiruvananthapuram who confirmed that it was Rajesh.

Karnataka police detained him and handed over to a police team from Kerala on Tuesday.

Married last year, he had changed his name to Jayan and was working as a rubber tapper in a remote area in Madhur near Udupi in Karnataka.

Though a lower court had sentenced Rajesh to death in 2013 terming it as rarest of the rare case two years later, the high court commuted his sentence to life term.

After killing the minor girl, he dumped the body in a desolated place. But a week after the murder he was nabbed, said a senior official.

Considering his satisfactory conduct, he was shifted to an open jail from where he and his accomplice escaped.

After the two escaped from the open jail three jail officials were also suspended for neglect.

“It was almost a shut case and the news channel programme really helped us to reach the absconding criminal. We will reward the person who identified him and alerted officials immediately. Alert public can help us solve similar cases in the future,” said a senior official who did not wish to be named.