Hyderabad, Aug. 27 -- A murder convict who jumped parole more than four decades ago and went on to become a government schoolteacher, even winning a best teacher award along the way, has lost his bid before the Telangana High Court to avoid returning to prison to serve out his sentence.

Sandela Veeranna, now in his late 70s, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1983 for a murder committed in the late 1970s. He was out on parole within six months of beginning his term and simply never went back.

It took a special task force of the state Prisons Department, working with Mahabubabad Police, until May 2024 to finally trace him and lodge him in Cherlapally Central Prison.

Wife's plea for release turned down

His wife, Sandela Charamma, mov...