Kochi:
Hunger and love for his mother prompted him to steal a measly Rs 600 from a bank and escape from jail but his heartbreaking tale moved officials in Kerala to help the 21-year old migrant job seeker secure bail and join his family in Uttar Pradesh.
After getting stranded due to COVID-19 lockdown, left jobless and even forced to beg at one stage, it was a happy reunion for Ajay Babu who reached his village Sisolar in Hamirpur district on Monday afternoon, officials said.
It was made possible thanks to collective efforts by some good samaritans in the Kerala jail department, a lawyer from Kasargod district and officials of the legal services authority who were sympathetic to the man’s plight, they said. He was given Rs 500 pocket money and two pairs of dresses and accommodated in a Delhi-bound train on Saturday from here enroute to this native village.
“Babu was received by his relatives at the Jhansi railway station on Monday morning. I have got a video and photos of him joining his mother and other relatives,” Superintendent of Kannur Special Jail T K Janardhanan told PTI. Facing starvation despite begging, Babu had gained entry into a bank in Kasargod town through its ventilation opening and made away with Rs 600 from the cash box which he spent to get food from a nearby eatery and slept in the area itself as he did not even realise his crime and tried to escape.
He was arrested the very next day based on a CCTV footage and as per COVID-19 protocol on March 25 lodged in an isolation room in the Central Jail here from where he escaped a week later as he badly wanted to retrive his phone seized by police so that he can speak to his mother, the official said. He was later found lying unconscious near a railway track here by locals and police took him into custody again and during interrogation he narrated his ordeals since he landed in Kerala in March just ahead of the lockdown looking for a job.
Despite the suspension of three of their colleagues and sacking of a temporary staff in connection with the escape of the remand prisoner, the jail authorities district initiated steps to secure his release, availing him the benefit of decongesting the jails due to COVID-19 lockdown. Hamirpur district police helped trace Babu’s home address, Janardhanan said adding his family managed to send Rs 25,000 online for the bail bond.
Advocate Kumaran Nair, a noted lawyer from Kasargod district, extended free legal assistance to Babu for securing bail in the bank theft case while legal services authorities helped him to get relief in the jail escape case, availing him the benefit of decongesting prisons due to COVID-19 lockdown and releasing those facing petty crimes, he said..
