Indian prisoner Chamel Singh's body arrives from Pakistan

Jammu: The body of the Indian national, who died in custody in Pakistan jail after being allegedly thrashed by the jail wardens on January 15, arrived here tonight from Pakistan.

“The body of Chamel Singh has arrived here in Jammu from Pakistan tonight,” SSP Jammu Rajeshwar Singh told PTI.

The body of Singh, which was handed over by the Pakistani authorities at Wagah border, was received by his two brothers and son along with the BSF officials around 1400 hours and was brought by road to Jammu from there.

The body has been kept at the mortuary of Government Medical College (GMC) hospital, where the post mortem would be conducted tomorrow.

Chamel Singh, a resident of Pargwal area in Jammu, who was about to complete a five-year prison term for alleged involvement in espionage, died in Lahore, with reports saying that he was “mercilessly beaten” by Pakistani prison staff before his death.

Media reports quoted a Pakistani lawyer named Tehseen Khan, who was recently released from Kot Lakhpat jail, as saying that he had seen prison staff assaulting Chamel Singh for using water from a tap to wash clothes on 15 January and that he died two days later at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.

However, officials of the Indian High Commission said that they had been formally informed by Pakistani authorities that Singh had died in Lahore on 15 January. A note verbale on the matter did not mention the cause of Singh’s death.

PTI