An apparent resemblance with escaped serial rapist-murderer ‘Psycho’ Jaishankar has landed a mentally challenged person in the custody of police for over 24 hours. Though the investigating officials admitted that it was a case of mistaken identity, the man, later identified as Dharmendra from Lucknow, remained in custody till late Wednesday night.
Since his escape from Central Prison in Bangalore on Saturday, Vellore police and their counterparts in border districts of Tamil Nadu have been on the hunt for Jaishankar (alias) ‘psycho’ Sankar, a dangerous criminal allegedly involved in around 30 rape and 15 murder cases in AP, TN and Karnataka.
After receiving information from public that a man with a striking resemblance to Jaishankar was spotted wandering at Muthukumaranmalai village located between Odugathur and Anaicut on Tuesday evening, Vellore police rushed to the spot and picked him for inquiry.
“Officials from Bangalore Central Prison and Jaishankar’s wife and father-in-law reached Ambur from their native near Edapadi in Salem, along with police officials on Wednesday, to identify the man under custody. They confirmed that the man in the custody was not Jaishankar. We even conducted finger prints verification to confirm this,” said the police officer.
However, even after the elaborate verification procedures, the man from Lucknow continues to be in custody at the Ambur Taluk Police Station, despite the law mandating that a detainee should be produced before the court within 24 hours.
When contacted, Superintendent of Police P Vijayakumar said enquiry was on to confirm the man’s identity.