In a deeply shocking incident, an undertrial prisoner (UTP) died of heart attack in the Keonjhar jail on Friday reportedly after hearing the news of death penalty awarded to a co-jail inmate accused in a rape case.
The incident occurred a day after another inmate, Sunil Nayak, was sentenced to death by a special POCSO Court in Keonjhar on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Turi Munda, who was also lodged at the jail in a minor girl rape case.
The 55-year-old Munda went into a room of his cell after collecting his breakfast at around 10.50 am. While sitting on the ground to take food, he suddenly collapsed. After the jail doctor attended to him, he was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.
Munda, who hails from Mishramal village under the Pandapara police limits, had been booked under Sections 354(A), 354(B) of IPC and Section 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Munda might have died after being panicked over his fate following the death penalty awarded to Nayak, who is also lodged in this jail in a POCSO case, said Jail Superintendent Garib Sahoo.
However, the exact reason behind Munda’s death would be ascertained following an investigation, he added.