A life-term convict who was released from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Prison using a forged Supreme Court order has been rearrested and sent back to judicial custody, nearly six years after he walked out of prison, according to a report by the Times of India.
The convict, identified as Shankar A, had been serving a life sentence in connection with the 2004 kidnapping and murder of a minor boy from Chickpet for ransom. His wife, Lakshmi, who was also convicted, was later released after serving a reduced sentence because of her limited role in the abduction, the report said.
Shankar remained in prison until November 2018, when prison authorities received documents that appeared to direct his immediate release. The documents were presented as an order of the Supreme Court. Officials processed the paperwork and allowed him to leave the prison, without establishing that the order had been issued by the apex court.
The alleged forgery was attributed to Srikanth, a First Division Assistant at the central prison. According to the report, Srikanth had promised Lakshmi that he could arrange her husband’s release in exchange for money. He allegedly obtained an actual Supreme Court order concerning the release of a long-serving prisoner in Tamil Nadu and edited it to replace the details with Shankar’s information.
The forged document reportedly retained the typography and format associated with a Supreme Court order. It was then sent from the Shivajinagar Post Office using the pseudonym of an advocate, in a manner intended to resemble a formal judicial dispatch. The report said the document’s postmarks and legal appearance helped it pass through the prison’s internal processing.
The alleged breach came to light after petitions were sent to prison officials. An initial anonymous petition was received in January, but the report said there were allegations that the warning was intercepted or suppressed. A second petition reached Alok Kumar, Director General of Police, Prisons and Correctional Services, in May. Kumar then ordered an internal inquiry.
Officials from Parappana Agrahara prison travelled to New Delhi to verify the document with the Supreme Court. The Assistant Registrar confirmed that no release order had been issued for Shankar, according to the report. Following that confirmation, police registered a first information report at Parappana Agrahara police station under provisions relating to forgery, fabrication and criminal conspiracy.
Police later raided Shankar’s residence in Mysuru and arrested him before sending him back into judicial custody. Srikanth was also arrested for allegedly preparing and mailing the forged order. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Electronic City) M. Narayana said investigators were examining the financial transaction allegedly linking Srikanth and Shankar’s wife.
The case has placed the processing of court orders inside correctional institutions under scrutiny. The report did not specify whether the prison department has introduced additional verification procedures following the inquiry. The police investigation into the alleged forgery, conspiracy and financial exchange is continuing.
