Police shoot and recapture escaped lifer Santosh in Kalaburagi encounter

On Wednesday, the Karnataka Police recaptured Santosh, one of three prisoners who had escaped from the high-security Kalaburagi Central Jail, following a brief police encounter in the Kapanur Industrial Area of Kalaburagi. Santosh, who is serving a life sentence, was shot in the right arm during the confrontation and has been hospitalized.

Acting on a tip-off, specialized search teams cornered Santosh in the industrial hub. According to the police, officers initially fired warning shots into the air when Santosh allegedly attacked them. When the accused continued to resist arrest and refused to surrender, the police opened fire, injuring him.

Santosh had escaped from the Kalaburagi Central Jail at approximately 4:00 AM on Tuesday alongside fellow inmates Mastan and Sagar. All three men were serving life sentences for a murder case registered in the Bidar district. Jail CCTV footage captured the exact moment the three men scaled and jumped over the facility’s massive perimeter walls.

Following the jailbreak, Kalaburagi Police Commissioner Sharanappa S D constituted specialized search teams across the Kalaburagi, Bidar, and Yadgir districts. While Santosh is now back in custody, police search operations remain active to locate the remaining two escaped convicts.

The dramatic escape has prompted an immediate investigation into potential internal security breaches and inside assistance. Investigators are probing how the three convicts were allegedly out of their barracks during the night, how they accessed the prison perimeter, and whether any prison personnel facilitated their escape.

A case has been registered at the Farhatabad police station, and a departmental inquiry has begun to ascertain whether there was negligence or complicity on the part of the prison staff. Senior police and prison officials inspected the facility on Tuesday to audit jail records and verify the movements of all on-duty personnel.

This jailbreak comes less than two weeks after another accused individual escaped from the Afzalpur police station in Kalaburagi district after taking advantage of sleeping officers. That accused was later rearrested, and three personnel were suspended.