Close on the heels of an undertrial jumping to death in Jail no. 1, another Tihar inmate was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside his barrack in Jail no. 2 on Saturday morning.
Indentified as Nadeem, he was found lying on the floor in an unconscious state by jail authorities, who took him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Incidents of inmates dying under suspicious conditions are not new.
The most notable incident this year has been the alleged suicide of the prime accused of the December 16 gang-rape case, Ram Singh. The Tihar administration has ordered an enquiry to ascertain the cause of Nadeem's death.
According to a Tihar official, the incident was reported at around 6 am. The usual day at Tihar, begins with the headcounting of inmates.
During the headcount, when there was no response on calling Nadeem's name, the jail authorities rushed to his barrack and found him lying still on the floor.
He was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital where he was declared brought dead. Nadeem was convicted in 2008 in a murder case and was serviced life sentence.
Preliminary investigations revealed that it is a case of natural death as no external injury marks were seen on his body. According to jail authorities, Nadeem was depressed for about a week so due to some family dispute and had not been interacting with his fellow inmates as well.
"We have informed his brother. The exact cause of death can only be revealed after the post-mortem report comes. As of now, the judicial enquiry is in progress," said Sunil Gupta, PRO Tihar Prison Authorities.