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BENGALURU: It was a couple of years back that Jayashankar, a rapist-murderer, broke his back, while escaping from Bengaluru’s central jail in Parappana Agrahara. Unable to move with injuries from his fall from the high wall, he was caught few kilometers away from the jail, days later.

 However, when Manjunath, a convict serving life term for murder, decided to escape, he didn’t want a broken back. So he came up with a brilliant plan - just walk out of the front door.

 According to prison authorities, on Friday round 5pm when all the prisoners were let out their barracks to courtyard, Manjunath walked up to the administrative block of the jail. He told the guard there, he wanted to apply for parole.

 Manjunath went into the administrative block and came out after a while. But instead of going back to the prison, he went to second gate of the jail (Part of the inner fortified wall), his first step to freedom. During this time inside the administrative block, he had managed go get a stamp on his hand, which is used by the Bengaluru central jail authorities to identify visitors from prisoners and change his clothes.

 At the second gate, when the guard stopped him he simply showed the stamp and moved ahead. With second gate crossed, he only had the main gate (part of the main periphery wall) between him and his freedom. At the second gate however, the guard pulled up after recognizing him to be a prisoner.

 At this time Manjunath told the guard that he was already on the parole and had come to the jail to get an extension of his parole. He even shared "joy" of getting his parole with guard, before he was let out of the front gate.

 Kamal Pant, additional director general of police (prisons), confirmed the incident and said that inquiry has been ordered into how the lifer managed to get a seal on his hand, which was meant exclusively for visitors. "Also we have filed a case with a local police station," he said.

 Manjunath is serving life term on murder charges and has already finished 6 years of his term. "He is from Chitradurga district and we have already formed a special team to track him," he said.