Karnataka Prisons DIG M. Somashekar Arrested for Allegedly Helping Convict Escape on Fake Supreme Court Order
Bengaluru police have arrested M. Somashekar, the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (North Zone), Kalaburagi, in connection with the alleged illegal release of a life convict from Bengaluru Central Prison in 2018 on the basis of a forged Supreme Court order. He was taken into custody on October 4 and remanded to police custody until October 9 after investigators said he had not cooperated and had concealed information about the forgery.
Somashekar was the Chief Superintendent of Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara when the convict, Shankar A. Aradhya, walked out of the prison on November 13, 2018. The release was processed using a document that purported to be a Supreme Court order dated November 2, 2018, in Aradhya’s criminal appeal. According to police, Aradhya paid a ₹10,000 fine linked to that purported order and was released the same day. Unlike routine court communications, which are sent to prisons electronically, the papers in this case were hand-delivered.
The matter remained undetected for nearly eight years before it came to light after an anonymous petition reached the office of Alok Kumar, Director General of Prisons. A follow-up inquiry was conducted by the DIG (South). On May 20, 2026, the Superintendent (in-charge) of Bengaluru Central Prison filed a complaint with Parappana Agrahara police. Verification with the office of the Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court confirmed that no such release order had been issued. Police then registered a case under Sections 465, 466, 468, 471, 472 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, covering forgery of valuable security and judicial records, use of forged documents and cheating.
Investigators have identified S. Srikanth, then a Second Division Assistant and later a First Division Assistant in the prison’s Convict Prisoner Section, as the person who allegedly forged the Supreme Court order. Aradhya’s wife told police that she had approached Srikanth for help in securing her husband’s release. A police officer said Srikanth demanded ₹12 lakh and was paid ₹6 lakh, after which the forged order was used to obtain the release. She also told police that Somashekar had assisted in the release. Srikanth, Aradhya and Aradhya’s wife were arrested earlier and remanded to judicial custody. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Electronic City) M. Narayana announced Somashekar’s arrest on Monday.
Aradhya had been serving a life sentence in a 2001 kidnapping-for-ransom case registered by Chickpet police. Fast Track Court-I convicted him on July 12, 2004, under Section 364A of the IPC, which deals with kidnapping for ransom, and Section 120B, which pertains to criminal conspiracy. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10,000. His appeals before the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court failed, and the sentence remained in force. Some later reports had described the original offence as murder, but the prison complaint and the detailed police account identify it as the 2001 kidnapping-for-ransom case. Earlier coverage also referred to him as Shankar Arumugam.
Police are now examining how the forged order was received and cleared inside the prison, whether it was checked before Aradhya’s release, and which officials authorised the discharge. The investigation is continuing.
