Jaishankar

Case record: Jaishankar

Background

Jaishankar was also known as M Shankar and M Sankar. He was also described as a serial rapist-killer and a serial rapist.

Jaishankar was 36 years old when he escaped from Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in September 2013. Police described him as a psychopath.

He hailed from Kanyapattanam Konasamudra village in Tamil Nadu's Salem district. Another account described him as hailing from Panangkatturai near Edapadi in Salem district. He was married and had three daughters. He was also described as a truck driver. He was described as keeping a black hand bag and carrying a machete in his bag.

He was said to have enjoyed raping and torturing women, and to have confessed to torturing women before physically abusing them. He allegedly trapped sex workers near dhabhas on highways, killed them brutally after having sex with them, and targeted women in farm houses. He was also said to have abducted, raped and killed women in rural areas.

The offence

Multiple rape and murder allegations were attributed to Jaishankar across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In Tamil Nadu, the material said as many as 12 cases of rape and murder and seven rape cases were lodged against him. It also said he abducted, raped and killed a woman police constable, Jayamani, 39, near Perumallur. The incident was said to have taken place in August 2009, while police recovered her body a month later, and Tamil Nadu police arrested Jaishankar in October 2009. The material said that after his arrest in October 2009, he managed to give them the slip on March 17, 2011, as he was being taken to court, and that he was rearrested near Jhalki checkpost in Bijapur district on May 5, 2011.

The material described Jaishankar as being wanted in multiple cases including rape, murder, attempt to murder and assault in locations in Tamil Nadu: Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupur, Erode and Namakkal. It also said he was accused of murder and rape in Karnataka after his escape, and that he was charged with raping and murdering 19 women and raping six other women, and that he was also accused of killing a man and a child in Dharmapuri district in March.

One account stated that after escaping from police custody he raped and killed six women in Karnataka's Bellary district and murdered two persons in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. That account also said he raped and murdered woman police constable M Jayamani (39) of the Kangeyam all-women police station on August 23, 2009, and that Jayamani's body was found on September 19. The material described that Jayamani had been on bandobust duty at Perumanallur during deputy chief minister M K Stalin's visit to Tirupur when Jaishankar kidnapped and raped her before killing her.

The material also stated that Jaishankar was arrested in a murder case and later escaped during escort at the Salem bus stand, and that the constable escorting him later shot himself in Coimbatore out of sheer shame.

Investigation

A police manhunt was described, including notices and posters seeking information to nab Jaishankar across various towns in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The material said the police had issued a look-out notice after Jaishankar's escape, and that a reward of Rs five lakh was announced for information leading to his arrest. It also stated that the escape led to suspension of 11 prison officials for alleged dereliction of duty.

The city police commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar described the escape route and said his engineering background had been used to draw it.

Investigation officers said that when Jaishankar was arrested, there were wounds on his feet, his knees were swollen and he complained of back pain. The material said that police were not completely believed his version of the escape because it was contradictory. It also said that police had not medically fit him to undergo interrogation on two counts related to custody arrangements.

The material also said electric fencing was not functional that night, and that one officer of an ASP rank in-charge of infrastructure did not check the system and report it, and that he was under suspension.

Arrest and escape

Escape from prison

The material stated that Jaishankar escaped from Parappana Agrahara jail last Sunday, and that it occurred three days before he was arrested, in September 2013.

It said he scaled two walls and used duplicate keys. It also said there were reports of insider role in the escape.

He was trapped by police on Thursday night.

The material stated that after he was arrested he was not remanded to police custody on two counts: he was not medically fit to undergo interrogation, and escaping from jail was a minor offence.

After being remanded to judicial custody, Jaishankar did not return to jail and was admitted to Victoria Hospital for medical treatment.

Jaishankar's escape was described as being planned for two months. The city police commissioner said Jaishankar had a duplicate key to the hospital cell where he was locked up, and that he had noticed that guards came to inspect his cell every half hour and knew he had a 30-minute window to escape.

The material said that once a round of inspection was over past Saturday midnight, Jaishankar opened his cell door with a duplicate key and went to the ground floor where some high-profile convicts like Abdul Nasser Madani had been lodged. It said prison guards were careless and left open two gates leading from the hospital to the garden. Jaishankar then scaled:

• a 20-foot wall,
• walked atop a 15-foot wall,
• and then scaled a 30-foot high wall.

Auradkar said it was still not clear if Jaishankar used a steel pole or the gate to scale the first 20-foot wall.

It said ADGP (Prisons) KV Gagandeep said Jaishankar had used a duplicate key to get out of the cell. The material said the cell lock was reachable by hand, that the key could have been made by him or with help of someone, and that the key was recovered from the garden. It also said that on inspection, the key could only open the lock but not close it.

BK Singh, head of the special investigation teams formed to nab Jaishankar, said that on reaching the peripheral wall Jaishankar used a belt and a bedsheet stolen from the hospital to lower himself. The material quoted BK Singh describing that Jaishankar's idea was to come down halfway, push himself away from the wall, and land on muddy terrain near the wall. It said he landed on his back and that explained his backache. It also said blood spots found near the wall were suspected to be from his wounds.

The material stated that it was not a power cut but the electric fencing itself that wasn't functional that night. It said there was one officer of an ASP rank in-charge of this infrastructure who did not check the system and report it.

A retired superintendent of the central prison, Lakshminarayana, said he had warned senior officers about Jaishankar coming out of his cell too often and that staff neglected his warnings and that this led to his escape.

Arrest

The material stated that Jaishankar was arrested on Friday in September 2013 and was arrested from Kudligate in Bangalore.

The material said police announced a reward of Rs five lakh for information leading to his arrest and issued a look-out notice after the dare-devil act.

The official version in the material said Jaishankar used a bamboo pole and bedsheet to scale high security inner and outer northern periphery jail walls.

Custody and hospital treatment

After police custody was denied, the material said questions about how he managed the escape would be delayed until further interrogation.

It said Kamal Pant, additional commissioner of police, law and order, said the police would protest the decision and take legal course to obtain custody.

It said Jaishankar's interrogation was expected to provide answers on how he managed the escape.

It said the commissioner also said police had not completely believed Jaishankar's version because it was contradictory.

The material stated that Jaishankar was admitted to Victoria Hospital for medical treatment after being remanded to judicial custody, and that he had not returned to jail.

Prior convictions and related proceedings

The material stated that Jaishankar had recently been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a trespass, rape and murder case. It also stated he was recently sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a trespass, rape and murder case.

The material said he was facing trial in more than 20 cases.

Trial and sentencing

Jaishankar was sentenced to 10 years in prison on April 24, 2013.

The material said he planned escape and was later arrested, and that police described him as being recently sentenced prior to the escape.

Appeals and outcome

No appeal outcome was provided in the material.

Aftermath

The material stated that after Jaishankar's escape, police issued red alert to all police stations across the state and directed them to take preventive measures by safeguarding women at lonely and isolated places.

It also stated that Jaishankar's escape added panic and embarrassment for state police, who feared he could target lonely women.

The material described police officers expressing apprehension that he could even be holed up in the state capital, and urged working women and those who travel alone at isolated places to be careful.

The material stated that 11 prison officials were suspended for alleged dereliction of duty following the escape.

Other details

Jaishankar escaped again after being taken to court on March 17, 2011, and the material said one of the police constables escorting him committed suicide on March 19 after he escaped.

The material said Jaishankar was rearrested near Jhalki checkpost in Bijapur district on May 5, 2011, and that he was subsequently lodged in Parappana Agrahara jail until he escaped in the early hours of Sunday.

The material stated that a special police team from Coimbatore had launched a nation-wide manhunt for Jaishankar, traced his recent mobile calls to Mumbai, and said he was holed up in Mumbai.

The material said M Sankar alias Jaishankar, 33, of Kanniampatty near Kattu Valasu in Salem district, was arrested on October 19, 2009, in a murder case, and lodged in Coimbatore central prison on October 20. It said he escaped from city police custody on March 18, 2011 at Salem bus stand when he was being escorted to Coimbatore after being produced in Dharmapuri Court. It also said the police on Wednesday night arrested an alleged serial killer near Bijapur in Karnataka on May 5, 2011, and that the police had placed notices and posters across various towns.

The material stated that a special team, led by Race Course police inspector (Crime), P Periyasamy, had two sub-inspectors and 15 police personnel, and that Chitradurga district police formed four special teams to nab the serial killer.

The material stated that Jaishankar stopped making calls from his mobile when he realised police were after him.

The material also said that as many as 13 rape and murder cases and seven rape cases were registered against Jaishankar in Tirupur, Salem and Dharmapuri.

It stated that he was taken to Dharmapuri court in connection with a murder case on March 17, and that on the next day armed reserve police constables M Chinnasamy and Rajavelu were escorting him back to Coimbatore when he escaped at the Salem bus stand around 9.30 pm.

It said the police commissioner C Sylendra Babu stated he was closing in on Jaishankar, who was on the run after killing and raping 19 women in the last three years, and that Jaishankar had escaped from Karnataka and was now in Mumbai.

It also stated that after reaching Delhi, Jaishankar reportedly threw away the mobile phone he was using on his way from Salem to Bellary and Bangalore.