A murder suspect arrested in Mumbai by the Tamil Nadu Police escaped on Thursday, hours before he was to be taken back to Chennai. The engineering graduate, accused of killing his mother, was out on bail since September for allegedly raping and killing a child earlier this year.

Daswant escaped custody when he was having lunch with the Chennai Police team on Thursday at the hotel where they were staying. They were scheduled to fly to Chennai on Thursday night.

“The accused was eating with the police when he got up and ran out of the hotel,” Laxman Chavan, senior inspector of the Vile Parle Police Station, told The Indian Express. “The police were taken by surprise as they did not expect him to flee.”

Daswant was reported to be missing after his mother was found dead in Chennai on Saturday. He was tracked to Mumbai three days later, where the police arrested him. He was produced before a court in Mumbai’s Bandra locality, and the police got a transit remand to take him to Chennai.

The Chennai Police are confident he will be caught again soon.