'Informant was key to fugitive's arrest'

If it was a duplicate key that helped Jaishankar pull off one of the most daring jailbreaks in the history of the State, an informant proved to be the key for police to put him behind bars again more than five days later.
'Informant was key to fugitive's arrest'

If it was a duplicate key that helped Jaishankar pull off one of the most daring jailbreaks in the history of the State, an informant proved to be the key for police to put him behind bars again more than five days later.

According to a senior police official, Jaishankar used his BSNL SIM card regularly inside the prison and was in contact with many people. Police teams, formed to nab Jaishankar, ploughed through numbers he was in constant touch with and zeroed in on a few suspects.

“Using mobile phones is a common phenomena inside prisons and even Jaishankar was found to be using a BSNL SIM card all throughout his stay. He was in constant touch with a few people. One of them was a prisoner, who was released and we had a strong suspicion that Jaishankar might somehow contact him. This informant had three-four numbers and, as we anticipated, Jaishankar contacted him asking for a two-wheeler,’’ an official said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) B K Singh said that Jaishankar used his knowledge of guard shift changes to plot his escape. “There were four guards at the cell and two of them would take a walk for every half-an-hour. Jaishankar made use of this and reached a banana garden on the hospital premises before scaling the prison compound walls,’’ Singh said.

High security this time around

Following Jaishankar’s arrest, ADGP (Prisons) K V Gagandeep said that this time around the convict would be kept in a high-security cell in any of the prisons in the State. He explained that only some criminals were housed in high-security cells wherein a CCTV will monitor the prisoner with a 24/7 physical watch by a guard.

“There are four such cells in the Parapana Agrahara prison and many in other prisons across the State. Once he is remanded in judicial custody, we will decide on shifting him to a high-security cell. Even if he is not well, a doctor will attend to him inside the cell,” he said.

On questions about how Jaishankar accessed the keys of his own cell, Gagandeep said a probe was on with the Additional Chief Secretary heading the inquiry.

“The duplicate key of his cell was indeed made and it was recovered from the jail premises only. The key was found in the small banana garden in the prison hospital premises. He was in his prison night dress and was last seen by the guards in the night. The police found him in the same dress this afternoon,’’ Gagangdeep said.

The ADGP also revealed that there was no electricity to the barbed wire fence on the night of August 31.

Jaishankar was taken to a court in Tumkur on that day to stand trial in a case.

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