Suicide or murder? Nirbhaya main accused found hanging in Tihar - Times of India

NEW DELHI: Ram Singh, the 35-year-old main accused in Nirbhaya's brutal gang rape, was found dead in his 15X12 feet cell in Tihar Jail on Monday morning, hours before he was supposed to appear in Saket court for the in-camera trial proceedings. "Singh's body was found hanging from a grill on the ceiling at around 5.45am by officers of the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) who form jail security," said Tihar law officer and spokesperson Sunil Gupta, adding that it is unclear whether it is a case of suicide or murder. Both Singh's family and his lawyer alleged that he had been murdered. "His shirt was torn which shows there was a scuffle before the death. He told me last week that inmates were planning to kill him. He has not committed suicide," Singh's father Mange Lal claimed. His lawyer V K Anand too said that Singh was happy with the trial proceedings and could not have committed suicide. There were three other undertrial prisoners i n the cell with Singh when the incident took place, and Tihar sources said they did not raise any alarm. One of them is on trial for murder, another for attempt to murder and the third one for theft. Singh was last seen alive around 2am on Monday morning, said jail sources. The incident, prima facie a case of suicide, has raised several questions. Singh was five feet and five inches tall, weighing roughly 60 kilograms, said jail officials. Singh had severely injured both his arms in an accident in 2009 and a metal rod had to be inserted in his right arm, making it difficult for him to even bend it or clench his fist. In order to commit suicide, Singh would have had to rip apart a dari (woven bedding material), tie it to an eight-foot high grill on the ceiling, reaching out with the help of a medium-sized plastic bucket, and hang himself - all without waking up the three other inmates sleeping in the same tiny cell in the dead of night. More curiously, his b ody wasn't discovered by the inmates but by jail cops on their daily morning patrol. No suicide note has been recovered, said officials. The body has been sent to AIIMS for postmortem. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and Tihar authorities have also begun an internal probe into the death. "The family members of the deceased have been informed of the death. The matter is being inquired into by judicial officers as per section 176 of CrPC. The exact cause of death would be known after we receive the inquiry officer's report which also includes postmortem report," said Gupta. The Union home ministry has sought a report from director general (prisons) Vimla Mehra. Mehra refused to comment on the death. "The entire thing will come in the inquiry. All things will be looked into. The magistrate has to do his work and I don't want to disclose any details as the matter is sub judice and investigation is on. Not even one part of the incident has to be disclosed and y ou have to appreciate this. The judicial magistrate will come out with an explanation and we have to wait for it," said Mehra. The police were informed about the incident around 7.20am by Tihar authorities and a team rushed to the spot. The cops are now waiting for the metropolitan magistrate's report and the post mortem report to ascertain their next step. "As per the procedure, we informed the magistrate and now the course of action will depend on his recommendations. The postmortem will be conducted on Tuesday at AIIMS in presence of family members. Inquest proceedings have been initiated in the case," a senior police officer said. The police informed the forensic experts as well who visited the jail premises in the afternoon and collected evidence and samples. Police sources said they came to know about Ram Singh's death from the media before Tihar officials. "Jail officials did not inform us of the suicide for nearly two hours. They later said th ey were busy rushing him to hospital to check if he could be revived," said a senior police officer. Officials did not comment on the matter but agreed there were some contradictions on the narrated sequence of events. The fast-track court, hearing the trial in the Delhi gang rape and murder case, has also sought an inquiry report by Tuesday from the Tihar jail officials on the alleged suicide by accused Ram Singh. The court was informed about the alleged suicide by the Tihar official after the other four accused were produced before it. (with inputs from Smriti Singh) How to download & use alive app Step 1: Get Alive app: Give a missed call to 18001023324 or visit aliveapp.in. Step 2: Open Alive app on your phone and scan this picture by focussing your phone's camera on it. On Android/iOS, it will scan automatically; on other phones, click on options, then, capture. 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