In another incident of what seems to be a case of suspected murder in the high-security Tihar Jail, a 32-year-old inmate was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Thursday. While there were signs of stab wounds found on his body, it is still unclear whether he was murdered, said jail officials. A total of 18 inmates have died inside Tihar over the last four months, raising questions on the security infrastructure of the high-profile prison.
The deceased, identified as Prithvi, was spotted by guards in the jail no. 8 of the prison on Thursday. He was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, said jail officials adding that it is still unclear whether he was murdered or not.
“But there are signs of stab wounds on the body,” they added. A senior official revealed that while the postmortem report is still awaited, all angles into the mysterious death will be explored. “We have started the probe and are waiting for his postmortem report. All the possible angles, including murder, are being investigated. We are checking if he had any rivalry with another inmate,” said the officer.
Security at the high-profile Tihar Jail has been a cause of concern of late as police has recently busted several extortion rackets being run from the premises in which inmates used mobile phones. A number of inmates have also lost their lives in the recent past in fights inside the jail premises. A 40-year-old undertrial, Ajay, was stabbed to death in May allegedly by three other inmates over personal enmity. In the same month, two other convicts were also found dead inside Tihar Jail. Of the two convicts, one was identified as Ritesh (32), serving a life sentence for murder, and the other was Amit (26), serving an eight-year jail term after being convicted of attempted murder.
last month, Delhi High Court had sought a status report from Delhi Government on the death of 15 Tihar inmates between January and April this year. Following which, Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain had sought a reply from officials on increasing cases of violence inside the jail premises. The administrative control of the jail comes under Delhi Government.