Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Oct 31 A 25-year-old undertrial prisoner escaped from police custody for the second time in 24 hours at the entrance of the Coimbatore Central Prison in the early hours of Saturday, police said.
The incident triggered a political row, with AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami taking a swipe at the ruling TVK and saying prison breaks under the current administration had turned into a “never-ending television serial.”
He was apparently referring to the recent escape of two prisoners from the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai and the escape of 17 convicts from the Thekkampatti sub-jail this week. The escapees in both incidents were recaptured and lodged in jail.
Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) K Shankar announced that a comprehensive security audit would be conducted across all prisons in Tamil Nadu to identify and address security gaps.
Officials have been ordered to implement Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) with 100 per cent compliance to prevent further lapses, he told reporters in Theni after inspecting the Thekkampatti sub-jail.
The inspection found that the prison, which has a capacity of 200, held more than 300 inmates. The ADGP said inmates were being redistributed to ease the overcrowding, and that instructions had been issued to follow specific protocols to prevent untoward incidents.
Police said the prisoner, identified as Raghavan, alias Kozhikaran, escaped by pushing aside the officers escorting him back to jail after a court appearance.
Four police personnel responsible for his security have been suspended for negligence, and Coimbatore city police, in coordination with other forces, have launched a large-scale search.
According to police, Raghavan, who is facing theft and robbery cases, was produced before a Fast Track Court on Friday night and remanded to judicial custody.
He was brought to the prison complex at around 12.40 am on Saturday. As the escort took him between the first and second gates of the prison’s two-tier entrance, his handcuffs were removed for admission formalities. Raghavan pushed the personnel away, broke free and fled.
This was his second escape in 24 hours and his third overall. He had earlier escaped from police custody in June 2026 while being taken to Bengaluru.
After being tracked down and arrested again on October 30, he briefly escaped from the Annur police station that evening before being chased down and caught, only to escape again at the prison gates hours later.
Shankar took charge as the new ADGP of Prisons and Correctional Services only on Friday, after Sandeep Rai Rathore was moved out of the post following the Thekkampatti sub-jailbreak on October 26.
In a strongly worded statement, Palaniswami expressed shock over the escape and noted the irony that it came just after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay warned jail staff to remain vigilant.
He said jailbreaks now had a place alongside deteriorating law and order, rampant drug trafficking, soaring inflation, power cuts and mounting public debt in the government’s “so-called list of achievements.”
“Every time prisoners escape from places like Theni, Puzhal or Salem, the government repeats the same old script about strengthening prison safety and placing armed guards on watchtowers,” he said.
“Today, just moments after the CM officially warned of strict action against negligent staff, the embarrassing spectacle of a convict escaping unfolded right at the Coimbatore prison gates,” he added.
Expressing concern over how easily hardened criminals breach high-security prisons, he said: “It sends shivers down one’s spine to think about the potential crimes such desperate fugitives could commit out in society.”
He added: “If this government cannot even keep a secure grip on its prisons, how can the common public ever trust this regime to protect them?”
He suggested that the CM follow the advice he gives officers on performing their duties with full focus, alertness and zero lethargy.
BJP leader and former Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan said the incident had cast doubt on the state’s overall law and order situation.
In another case of an accused going missing, a 61-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, David Anbarasan, escaped from a Chennai hospital where he was being treated after allegedly being beaten up by relatives of a schoolgirl he is accused of harassing.
A Chennai police release said a hunt was on to trace the accused, who is alleged to have sexually harassed an 8-year-old girl travelling in his auto to school. Parents of other schoolgirls had also complained against him.
(PTI News)
