Udupi : The police in Udupi district have traced an absconding life convict and handed him over to the Kerala police.

Police said the convict, Rajesh (39), hailing from Neyyattinkara taluk in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, was sentenced to death in 2013 for sexual assault and murder of a minor in Vattappara police station limits in Thiruvananthapuram.

The sentence was later turned to life imprisonment and the convict was lodged at the central prison. He was shifted to Nettukaltheri open prison in December 2020, from where he escaped. Rajesh was traced on Tuesday by a team led by Brahmavar circle inspector Anantha Padmanabha to a house in Balladi village of Brahmavar taluk in Udupi district, sources said.

Kerala police took him back after getting a transit warrant from the Kundapur court, sources said.