Poojappura Central jail in Thiruvananthapuram had a surprise visitor on Wednesday, as a person who went absconding during his parole after a life imprisonment, returned to jail after 25 years.
Nazar, the 55-year-old convict, was given life imprisonment in April 1991, in the infamous Abu murder case.
After one and half years of imprisonment, Nazar, a native of Mattanchery in Ernakulam, got parole and subsequently vanished without a trace.
Now he has returned, as he was detected with cancer and he did not want to trouble his brother.
“Around 5pm on Wednesday, he came to my office and said that he had been absconding all this while and wanted to surrender. Since the incident happened 25 years ago, we had to search all the records to find his name and details. After figuring out the details, we gave him the same prison number 9410,” Poojappura jail superintendent S Santhosh told The News Minute.
Nazar left jail on parole in December 1992 and he was supposed to return to jail in January 1993.
“He said he stayed in different places while absconding. Most of the time, he was in Mumbai and in Saudi Arabia. For the last few years, he stayed with his brother in Ernakulam. After the cancer was detected, he had undergone treatment. However, after two surgeries, he ran out of money and he didn’t want to trouble his brother,” said the officer.
Reflecting on the Abu murder case in which Nazar was convicted, the police officer said that the case was quite sensational, with a few popular theatre owners also being involved.
“It was a murder case related to some employment issue, a few famous theatres and its owners were involved in it. Nazar was closely working with a famous theatre owner and producer. A popular actor was also an accused in the case,” the superintendent said.
The officer said that Nazar was very weak and tired and that he would have to continue his treatment.
“Generally, for life imprisonment, one cannot go out till after 14 years, so he will have to be in jail for 14 years. His treatment has to be continued,” he added.