Ripper Jayanandan

Ripper Jayanandan, is a serial killer from Trichur who is accused of seven murders committed during a span of 35 robberies, in and around Trichur Ernakulam border areas. For the seven murders committed by Jayanandan including the double murder at Perinjanam in October 2004, where Jayanandan had assassinated the inmates of the house, Kalapurackkal Sahadevan and his wife Nirmala, to steal 11.25 sovereigns of gold, Thrissur principal sessions judge sentenced him to death by hanging in June 2008. He was sent to Pujapura central Jail where he was awaiting his execution until June 2013 when he made a daring escape. He was captured on 9 September near Trichur.^[1]

Background

Jayanandan was born in Mala district of Thrissur.

Major thefts and murders

Jayanandan's first major offence was burgling the house of 45-year-old Jose in Mala police station limits in September 2003. During the robbery, he struck Jose, who was sleeping, with a crowbar and killed him and decamped with Rs 17,000 and a video cassette player.^[2]

His second burglary was in March 2004, in which he forced his way into a house in Mala police station limits itself, killing 51-year-old Nabeesa who woke up hearing the noise and came out. Upon entering the house, he killed two more women, 23-year-old Fousiya and 28-year-old Noorjahan, and two children.

In a third time in October 2004, Jayanandan killed Nirmala 58, and grievous injuries to Sahadevan, 64, in their house at Puthenvelikara in Puthenvelikara police station limits and then decamped with gold ornaments weighing 11 sovereigns.

His next attack was at a house in Kodungallur police station limits in Thrissur, in which he attacked Aravindaksha Panicker and wife Omana Panicker and caused grievous injuries to both, besides robbing 18-sovereign gold ornaments.

Jayanandan's next target was an outlet of Kerala State Beverages Corporation at North Paravoor in August 2005. When the security guard Subhashakan challenged him, Jayanandan struck him on the head with an iron rod and killed him.

Escape

The cops suspect that the jailbreak occurred after midnight. The fugitives had cut through the cylindrical ‘dead latch’ of the padlocked cell’s grilled door, possibly with a hacksaw blade, and scaled the relatively low wall of the block. (The wall had been fortified and topped with an electrified barbed wire fence in 2011 to house terror suspect Thadiyantavide Nazeer.) They proceeded to the prison’s infirmary and stole bed sheets and clothes left out to dry on clotheslines.

The convicts hastily assembled a crude ladder from wooden poles to scale the wall. Once on top of the wall, they used a rope fashioned out of the knotted bed sheets and clothes to abseil down its frightening height, investigators said.

The escapees had made up their cots inside the cell with vessels and pillows to make it appear as if they were sleeping. The prison’s extensive surveillance camera network was down at the time of the escape, purportedly due to a power outage.^[3]

Investigation

The escapade was a huge embarrassment for Kerala police as Jayanandan was a seasoned criminal and with multiple successful escape attempts made in past. The high security controls and technologies were breached by Jayanandan with very rudimentary measures.

Capture

Jayanandan was arrested by the Kerala police in Nellayi, a few kilometres away from his native village in Thrissur on September 9, 2013. The police detained Jayanandan in the afternoon, while he was waiting to get his bicycle repaired at Nellayi junction.^[4]

Notes

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