Youth arrested for ‘attack’ on Mata Amritanandamayi dies 'mysteriously'

A 23-year-old mentally disturbed youth from Bihar, who was in judicial custody after being arrested on charges of attempt to murder spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, died in a hospital under mysterious circumstances on Saturday night. The police have registered a case of unnatural death after Singh's body was found to have injury marks.

Satnam Singh, who had been missing from his native place Gaya since May 30, was caught from Amritanandamayi's ashram in Kollam on August 2. According to the police, while the saint was giving darshan to her devotees, Singh moved to the stage reciting Arabic words. He was overpowered and was handed over to the police.

Slapped with attempt to murder charge, a magistrate court remanded him in judicial custody. He was sent to the district jail. Late night, after he turned violent, the jail authorities rushed him to the criminals' ward at the general hospital.

Jail superintendent Narendra Nath said he was taken to the hospital with legs and hands tied. However, there was no incident of any attack on the youth in the jail.

Singh's cousin Vimal Kishore, who reached Kollam on the same night from Delhi, said he had pleaded with the jail authorities not to send him to the jail ward in the hospital, fearing he may become vulnerable to attacks from other inmates. As Singh continued to be violent in the hospital, he was shifted to a mental hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

Hospital sources said the mandatory examination for injuries was not held when Singh was admitted.

Kishore said the jail authorities had failed to inform him about his brother's death. "I came to know about the death from a friend in Kerala who noticed a TV scroll," he said.

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