BENGALURU: AN ex-Army personnel who was in the artillery services, a jilted lover, an individual caught among 18 others in a murder and a priest — these were some of the men released from the Central Jail in Bengaluru for good conduct after serving 14 years in prison. Parappana Agrahara saw emotional scenes outside the jail premises as freed convicts were united with their families on Sunday.
Stories of teary-eyed mothers and wives abounded as the convicts were sent off with roses and a kit with basic necessities by prison staffers, and the freed convicts sought blessings from their family elders.
In all, 79 life convicts were released — 28 of them from Bengaluru and the rest from other prisons across the state. As many as 58 more will be released on Gandhi Jayanti. Surprisingly, no women convicts were released this time, according to prison officials.
Vasanth Kumar (36) had languished in a Ballari prison for 14 years. A Computer Science graduate, he fell in love with a woman from another faith. Unfortunately, she was married off. He went to meet her and they both made a pact to die. He slit her throat and his, but she died and he survived. The surgical scars of his reconstructive surgery are still evident on his throat.
A resident of Hosapete taluk in Ballari district, he said, “I want to become a movie scriptwriter.” His mother gets teary eyed as they get ready to walk out of the prison premises. “He was 22 when he was convicted. He spent his entire youth in prison,” she said.Maoji Ganesh from Mysuru Central Jail was sentenced to life in 2006. He broke down every time he was asked to speak. “I was only SSLC qualified when I was jailed. Now I am a BA graduate. While serving my time, I learnt the significance of Yoga, pranic healing, acupuncture, astrology and numerology,” he said.
“I was in the artillery service and was posted in several locations across India. I was a taluk panchayat member in Kushalnagar for being a former army member,” he said. He plans to return to his son and manage his coffee estate once he’s back in Kodagu.
Bhagyaraj (32), a resident of Marathahalli, was convicted in 2009. His mother Jayalakshmi, who has four other children, couldn’t hold back tears as she said, “He was 17 years old when he was jailed.” He hopes to make a living by operating a ragi flour machine provided by the government. “The state government has assured me a loan of `5 lakh, I hope they give it, it will help in starting our life,” he said. Basavanna (55) from Gundlupet taluk, Mysuru, was a priest. “I want to go to Nanjanagudu to a temple before going home. It was a midnight quarrel that got the five of us jailed for the death of a person,” he said.