Tihar inmate bangs head on wall, dies

NEW DELHI: A man lodged in a rape case inside Tihar jail died on Saturday after a fight with other inmate over availability of bathing water inside jail.

Jail officers claimed the man banged his head on the wall after the fight to cause self injuries, which led to his death.

The deceased Narendra Prasad, 24, was the main accused in the gangrape of a minor girl.

The incident was reported around 10.15am on Saturday from jail number five. Assistant inspector-general of Delhi Prisons, Rajkumar said that a complaint was received from jail number five that two inmates had a fight over availability of water for bathing.

“There was a brawl between two prisoners, one of who was Prasad’s friend. Prasad rushed to help him and got into the fight. This was when the jail authorities spotted the brawl and intervened. When a complaint was given to senior jail officers, Prasad banged his head on a wall. He fell unconscious and was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” said AIG Rajkmar.

The AIG said that a magisterial enquiry has been ordered to probe the matter.

Prasad’s family members have raised suspicion and alleged that he may have been murdered.

The family learnt about the death on a call from Hari Nagar police station around 3 pm. Narendra’s father, Ganga Prasad said that the police asked them to reach Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital. “I suspected something was wrong, at once. My son had suffered serious head injuries. The family has not been allowed to see the body yet. We suspect something is wrong. It could be a murder,” Prasad said.