Police on Friday arrested Govindachamy, a convict in the 2011 Soumya rape and murder case, just hours after he escaped from the high-security Kannur Central Jail in Kerala.
Govindachamy, who was serving a life sentence, broke out of his cell in the 10th block of the prison around 4 am. Following his escape, police launched a massive manhunt and arrested him around 11 am from a well located behind the office of the National Sample Survey in the Talap area of Kannur.
“We received information about his escape around 6.30 am and immediately alerted all police units. The public was informed through media channels. CCTV footage across the city was analysed, and we received valuable input from the public. He was eventually found hiding inside a well in an abandoned compound in Talap,” said Kannur Superintendent of Police P Nidhin Raj. Raj also stated that the police are probing whether any prison staff assisted in the jailbreak. “It appears that he had been planning the escape over the past few days,” he added.
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The crime, which shook Kerala in 2011, occurred on February 1 when Soumya, a 23-year-old woman from Shornur in Palakkad district, boarded the Ernakulam–Shornur passenger train. As the train departed Vallathol Nagar railway station, Govindachamy allegedly assaulted her, repeatedly smashing her head against the compartment walls before pushing her out of the moving train. He then jumped off, found her near the tracks, carried her into nearby woods, and raped her.
Soumya, who worked as a supermarket assistant in Ernakulam, succumbed to her injuries at the Government Medical College in Thrissur on February 6, 2011. Govindachamy was arrested the day after the attack from the Palakkad railway station. The case had sparked widespread outrage in Kerala and led to a prolonged legal battle.
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