Karnataka police nab man who escaped from Kuthiravattom mental asylum

Kozhikode: The Karnataka police have caught an inmate of Kuthiravattom mental health centre, who had escaped from the hospital on August 14 midnight.

The escaped inmate was apprehended by Karnataka police on Monday and a team of Kerala police personnel is expected to bring him back to the institution by noon, said sources.

The inmate — 23-year-old Vineesh — is an accused in a murder case and his escape was discovered only on Monday morning, they said.

Vineesh had stabbed and killed Perinthalmanna native Drisya (21) allegedly for rejecting his marriage proposal in June 2021.

He was brought to the mental asylum on Friday, August 12, and had attempted suicide while in Kannur central jail earlier.

According to sources, Vineesh escaped while fire and rescue personnel were attending to a fellow inmate, whose ring got stuck on his finger on Sunday night.

Consequent to repeated instances of inmates of the mental asylum escaping, the hospital superintendent was suspended on charges of security lapses in February but was later reinstated following protests by the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association.

There have been many instances of inmates, including accused in criminal cases, escaping from the hospital.

In May, an inmate had escaped from the hospital at night in a two-wheeler lifted from the premises and died in a road accident the next morning while presumably fleeing to his native place.

Prior to that, in separate incidents in March this year, a male and a female inmate escaped and later the latter was found and brought back.

In February, a woman inmate, a native of Maharashtra, was found dead in her cell following an alleged clash with another inmate

The hospital authorities have since for long been demanding adequate security staff, including women wardens, to guard the inmates, day and night, in the 450-bedded hospital campus, spread over 30 acres, sources said.

(With PTI inputs)