Govindachamy, the rape convict, cut through one horizontal and two vertical iron bars of the cell at Kannur central jail to execute his daring prison break early Friday morning. The method was similar to 'Ripper' Jayanandan, a death row prisoner who had in 2013 demonstrated that the thick iron bars of high security cells could be cut using sharp weapons when he escaped from Poojapura central prison.

Both dreaded criminals had sourced blade-like tools to saw through the iron bars. Former prison officials at Poojapura prison said that Jayanandan and another prisoner, Rajesh, removed one bar after chipping away for nearly two months. They would use a soap paste to mask the marks left from cutting and were at work mostly at night when the guards were asleep.

Kannur police team who did an initial round of questioning of Govindachamy said that he took around 45 days to cut through the iron bars. "They are good at sourcing sharp-edged weapons from prison workshop or leftover tools from various civil works undergoing in prisons. Jayanandan had put together the blades abandoned on the premises and shaped a hacksaw tool to cut through the bar," a retired official who was at Poojapura prison said. While Jayanandan escaped along with the fellow prisoner Rajesh, Govindachamy, a known loner, acted alone. However, prison officials and police find it tough to buy this as they claimed that it is impossible to cut through the bar without making noise.

Prisons DGP  Balram Kumar Upadhyay told Onmanorama that there were heavy showers in the past one month and chances were less likely for someone to hear any noise. "Whether he got external help is something we need to find out," he said. DIG, Prisons, North Zone, Jayakumar said that Govindachamy was not deputed for works in carpentry shop or workshop. This meant that there were no chance for him to source such sharp tools directly from the workshop.

The lean stature of Jayanandan and Govindachamy enabled them to slip through the bars and abseil down the tall walls. Jayanandan had made use of clothes from the hospital block while Govindachamy used clothes of remand prisoners to shape a rope out of it. He also used a pair of clothes to replace his prison wear.

Former officials recall Govindachamy as a cold, violent person whom they thought was beyond redemption. While prisoners were allowed to roam freely within the compound from 6 am to 6pm, considering Govindachamy's nature, authorities had once imposed strict regulations. An enraged Govindchamy vented out his ire by collecting his excrement inside the cell and hurling it on a guard once. He would then threaten the officials that he would commit suicide.

Jayanandan had a notorious history of jail breaks in Kannur and Thrissur earlier and he was brought to Poojapura prison. Kozhikode rural SP K E Baiju, who then led the police team for the manhunt of Rajesh and Jayanandan, said that Rajesh was held within a week while Jayanandan was held from a prawn farm in Thrissur where he lived with a fake identity, two months after the prison break.

Baiju said that even in 2013, Jayanandan was held with the help of the public. "We used to give out information on his appearance and possible places of movement. We acted on a tip-off and nabbed him when he came out of his hiding place to have breakfast at a shop," Baiju told Onmanorama.

Kannur police held Govindachamy following an alert from residents of Talap that they had spotted someone resembling Govindachamy and he was running. He was later pulled out from a well on the premises of an abandoned building.