Kozhikode: The Karnataka police have nabbed an inmate of Kuthiravattom mental health centre, who had escaped from the hospital at midnight on August 14.

The man, Vineesh (23), was apprehended on Monday and a team of Kerala police personnel is expected to bring him back to the institution by Tuesday noon, police sources said.

Vineesh is the accused in the murder of Perinthalmanna native Drisya (21). He allegedly stabbed the woman to death for rejecting his marriage proposal in June 2021.

Police said the hospital authorities discovered that Vineesh had escaped only on Monday morning.

He was brought to the mental asylum on Friday, August 12. He had attempted to kill himself while in Kannur central jail earlier.

According to sources, Vineesh escaped while the fire and rescue personnel were attending to a fellow inmate, whose ring got stuck on his finger on Sunday night.

Following repeated instances of inmate escapes, the health department suspended the superintendent of the mental health centre on charges of security lapses in February. But he was later reinstated following protests by the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association.

There have been many instances of inmates, including accused in criminal cases, escaping from the hospital.

In May, an inmate, who had escaped from the hospital at night in a two-wheeler lifted from the premises, died in a road accident the next morning. He met with the accident while presumably fleeing to his native place.

In separate incidents in March this year, a male and a female inmate escaped. However, the latter was brought back to the centre.

In February, a woman inmate, a native of Maharashtra, was found dead in her cell following an alleged clash with another inmate.

The hospital authorities have been demanding the deployment of adequate security staff, including women wardens, to guard the inmates housed in the 450-bedded hospital campus spread over 30 acres, sources said.

(With PTI inputs)