Undertrial found hanging in Aligarh jail

A 52-year-old undertrial prisoner, arrested on charges of theft, was found hanging from a tree in Aligarh district jail.

The jail authorities have termed it a case of "suicide" but the victim's family is alleging foul play saying he was looking forward to the hearing of his case on December 4.

A judicial inquiry will be conducted into the matter, which is mandatory under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

According to jail authorities, Omkar Singh was brought to the jail on September 24 in a cylinder theft case.

Jailor Pramod Kumar Singh said, "Earlier too, Omkar was arrested on September 9 after he was booked under section 151 of CrPC (prevention of commission of cognizable offences) but he managed to get bail and was released on September 18. A week later, he was arrested again on September 24."

Singh's brother Veeram told reporters that the family learnt about his brother's death from the police. Veeram said that his brother, who worked as a driver, had called his family a few days ago to inform them that his case would be heard on December 4.

"How could he kill himself when he was looking forward to the hearing of his case? He might have been killed inside the prison," the victim's family alleged.

Jail superintendent Vipin Kumar Mishra refuted the allegations of the family and said there was no negligence on the part of the prison authorities.

Mishra said none of his family members visited the prison to meet Omkar during his two months' stay in jail.

After the post-mortem on Monday, the body was handed over to the family.