In a dramatic turn to the December 16 gangrape case which is being heard by a fast track court in south Delhi,main accused Ram Singh was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail No. 3 early Monday morning. Jail officials claimed he had hanged himself but his father and lawyer alleged foul play and called it murder. Singh was housed in the cell with three other undertrials not connected to his case. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde,who said a preliminary inquiry suggested Singh committed suicide,admitted that the death was a major security lapse. Asked about allegations that Singh was murdered,Shinde said that is exactly why a magisterial inquiry had been ordered. Director General (Prisons) Vimla Mehra said: The inquiry is being conducted and it would be premature to make any statement about details of the incident. Jail officials claimed that Singh tore a rug to make a noose and hanged himself from a skylight grille in the cell. They said he climbed on a bucket and tied the noose to the grille,positioned eight feet from the floor. A guard spotted him hanging at 5.45 am and alerted jail officials. A doctor who was called in declared Singh dead. Jail officials were unable to explain why three other inmates they are facing trial in cases of murder and kidnapping who shared the 15x12 feet cell had no inkling till the guard raised the alarm. Officials claimed that on Sunday night,Singh appeared relaxed and was seen chatting with the other inmates. At 10 pm,he had his dinner four rotis and dal. He was seen talking to his cell mates until 2 am, an official said. Singhs cell mates later told officials that he discussed his own case and what could be his fate. He was due to appear at the fast track court on Monday with four others who are being tried for the gangrape. At 3.15 am,a guard doing the rounds saw him lying. The guard told us that there was no movement inside the cell at 3.15 am when he last checked on the inmates, an official said. There are 25 cells in one ward and a single guard does the rounds. The guard usually takes 30 minutes to complete one round of the entire ward and there is only one CCTV camera in the passage of the ward. The official said: It was dark in that corner of the ward. From the manner in which Singh was hanging,it seemed as if someone was standing. It was only when the guard went closer to check why Singh was up at that hour,he realised that the man had been hanging. According to the official,Singhs cell was adjacent to the condemned cell where Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had been kept. After Afzals hanging last month,Singh felt that he too would be hanged and often mentioned it to the other inmates. Singhs father Mange Lal alleged that his son was murdered and that he had often been tortured in the jail. The three inmates who shared the cell are being questioned and their statements recorded. Singhs body was sent to the AIIMS for a post-mortem examination to ascertain the cause of death. The post-mortem will reveal the exact cause of death. If it is found that the accused died of injuries,a case will be registered and a thorough investigation will be carried out, a police officer said. We received a call between 7.30 and 7.45 in the morning about Ram Singhs death. A magisterial inquiry has been initiated. Though Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital falls in our area,it was the Metropolitan Magistrates decision to take Singhs body to AIIMS for post-mortem. He wrote a letter to the authorities in this regard, Additional Commissioner of Police (West) V Renganathan said.
