Nazar (55), who is suffering from cancer, turned up at the central jail, Poojapura, here last evening, police said.
Hailing from Mattancherry in Kochi, Nazar was convicted in a murder case along with four others in April 1991.
While on a 30-day parole in December, 1992, he decided to go absconding.
Nazar, a bachelor, was said to have escaped to a Gulf nation and survived doing odd jobs there.
Five years ago he returned and later was diagnosed with cancer.
He was admitted to the prison after checking records, they said.