BENGALURU: In a sensational breach of correctional security, a life-term convict who was released on the basis of a forged Supreme Court order has been rearrested and sent back to judicial custody.The elaborate fraud, which allowed the prisoner to live as a free man for nearly six years, came to light after anonymous petitions and internal whistleblowers exposed alleged insider collusion.The convict, Shankar A, a mason by profession, was originally sentenced to life imprisonment alongside his wife, Lakshmi, for the brutal 2004 kidnapping and murder of a minor boy from Chickpet for ransom.While Lakshmi was released after serving a reduced sentence due to her limited role in the abduction, Shankar remained behind bars at Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.In November 2018, Shankar astonished prison authorities when official-looking documents, purportedly issued by the Supreme Court, directed his immediate release.Officers processed his paperwork and allowed him to walk out of the front gates without verifying the authenticity of the order.Srikanth, a First Division Assistant working in the central prison who was seeking money, promised Lakshmi he could secure her husband’s freedom.Srikanth intercepted an actual Supreme Court order directing Tamil Nadu prison authorities to release a long-serving inmate. Matching the apex court’s distinct typography and styling, he edited the legal document to swap in Shankar’s details.To complete the deception, Srikanth sent the forged order from Shivajinagar Post Office under the pseudonym of an advocate, mimicking standard judicial dispatch channels.Deceived by the proper postmarks and legal layout, senior prison leadership processed the order without verification.Shankar, who first lived in Jnanabharati in Bengaluru, later settled into a quiet life at his Mysuru residence, believing his illegal gamble had succeeded.However, the truth began bubbling up from behind the very bars he had escaped. In January, an anonymous petition alleging the forgery landed on the desk of a senior prison official.Sources suggest Srikanth intercepted or suppressed the initial warning. But the whistleblowers persisted. In May, a second petition detailing the scam reached Alok Kumar, Director General of Police (Prisons and Correctional Services). DGP Kumar immediately launched an internal inquiry.A posse of police officials from Parappana Agrahara prison visited the Supreme Court in New Delhi and cross-referenced the records with those of the Assistant Registrar, who confirmed that no such release order had ever been granted to Shankar.Armed with the Supreme Court’s confirmation, police registered an FIR under provisions relating to forgery, fabrication and criminal conspiracy at Parappana Agrahara police station.Police raided Shankar’s Mysuru home, apprehended him and sent him straight back into judicial custody. Soon after, police arrested First Division Assistant Srikanth for drafting and mailing the forged order.“Srikanth forged the apex court’s order and mailed it from a local post office to circumvent verification checks,” confirmed Deputy Commissioner of Police (Electronic City) M. Narayana.“We are currently probing the exact financial transaction between Srikanth and Shankar’s wife.”While both the convict and the corrupt clerk are back behind bars, the breach leaves uncomfortable questions for the prison department regarding why such high-stakes legal documents were accepted without verification for nearly six years.
