Soumya murder: Hours after escape, convict Govindachamy arrested in Kannur
Govindachamy was arrested in Thalappu, near Kannur town. He was hiding inside an abandoned well
The 2011 Soumya rape and murder convict Govindachamy, who had escaped from Kerala’s Kannur Central Jail, was arrested on Friday morning (July 25), police said.
He had escaped from jail in the early hours of Friday. However, he was arrested in Thalappu, near Kannur town. He was hiding inside an abandoned well.
Also read: How Soumya murder convict Govindachamy escaped from prison
Police got a tip-off from an auto-rickshaw driver about Govindachamy on Friday morning.
Govindachamy, who has only one hand, was serving a life sentence in connection with the brutal rape and murder of 23-year-old Soumya, a young woman who was attacked while travelling in the ladies’ compartment of a passenger train from Ernakulam to Shoranur in 2011. The incident had shocked the conscience of the state and led to widespread public outcry.
Originally sentenced to death by a trial court, Govindachamy's sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court in 2016. The apex court overturned the murder conviction but upheld the rape charge, citing insufficient evidence to prove that the assault directly led to Soumya’s death.