Bengaluru: Manjunath, a convict serving life term for murder in Bengaluru jail hoodwinked the jail guards and just walked out through the front door. According to prison authorities, round 5 pm when all the prisoners were let out their barracks to courtyard, Manjunath walked up to the administrative block of the jail. He told the guard there, he wanted to apply for parole.
Manjunath went into the administrative block and came out after a while. But instead of going back to the prison, he went to second gate of the jail, his first step to freedom. During this time inside the administrative block, he had managed go get a stamp on his hand, which is used by the Bengaluru central jail authorities to identify visitors from prisoners and change his clothes.
At the second gate, when the guard stopped him he simply showed the stamp and moved ahead. With second gate crossed, he only had the main gate between him and his freedom. At the second gate, however, the guard pulled up after recognizing him to be a prisoner. This time Manjunath told the guard that he was already on the parole and had come to the jail to get an extension of his parole. He even shared "joy" of getting his parole with guard, before he was let out of the front gate.
Kamal Pant, additional director general of police (prisons), confirmed the incident and said that inquiry has been ordered into how the lifer managed to get a seal on his hand, which was meant exclusively for visitors. "Also we have filed a case with a local police station," he said.
Manjunath is serving life term on murder charges and has already completed 6 years of his term. "He is from Chitradurga district and we have already formed a special team to track him," he said.
