Out on 90-day parole, convict goes missing; caught after 20 days

Bengaluru: A 40-year-old murder convict, M Ramakrishna, who had jumped emergency parole and gone incommunicado, landed in police custody earlier this week.Ramakrishna had walked out of Bengaluru Central Prison on Dec 11, 2025, after the high court directed prison authorities to grant him 90-day parole. However, he failed to return to prison on the scheduled date of March 10, prompting officials to lodge a complaint with Parappana Agrahara police.M Narayana, deputy commissioner of police (Electronics City), said a special team was formed to trace the fugitive. One of the main challenges was that Ramakrishna was not carrying a mobile phone or using any debit or credit cards, leaving investigators with little digital trail to follow."Ramakrishna is from Kyatasandra in Tumakuru. One team visited his family, who said he had stayed with them during his parole and left home on the morning of March 10, claiming he was returning to prison. We checked CCTV footage at the Kyatasandra bus stand and other locations along the highway, but unfortunately lost his trail as there was no clear footage of his movements," Narayana said.Meanwhile, police kept a close watch on the movements of the fugitive's family, particularly his elder son."One day, we found that his son had received a call on his mobile phone from a coin-operated telephone booth at the KSRTC bus stand in Kadur. Treating this as a crucial lead, we rushed to the spot and examined CCTV footage. In hazy visuals, we noticed a man in a saffron robe loitering near the telephone booth," the DCP said.A plainclothes team was immediately dispatched to Kadur, where they checked local lodges. They discovered that a man dressed in saffron robes had checked into a small hotel on a daily rent of Rs 100. When the police team reached the hotel, the suspect was out. He was apprehended upon his return and, during questioning, confessed to being Ramakrishna, the officer added. BOX:Convicted in 2021 for 2017 murderPolice records show that Ramakrishna and his female friend were arrested by Tumakuru police in 2017, on charges of murdering the latter's husband. Later, in 2021, they were convicted to life imprisonment.