Delhi gang rape accused death: Suicide or murder?

Ram Singh the man who was believed to be the principal perpetrator of the December 16 gang rape in the capital reportedly committed suicide in Delhirsquos high security Tihar jail onMonday police said However his family alleged he was murdered According to jail officials Ram Singh 35 who was in ward number 5 of Jail No 3 hanged himself by the grill of a window using a bedsheet Drawing a line Policemen place a police line outside the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital mortuary where inset Ram Singhrsquos body was brought yesterday PicAFP But what is curious about the whole incident was that none of the three other inmates of the cell noticed it Officials refused to identify the three inmates who shared the cell with Ram Singh His body was seen hanging from the grill at 545 am by a Tamil Nadu policeman Kept in a cell shared by three others also undertrials Ram Singh used a bucket to reach the grill to hang himself Inmates are given a bedsheet bucket and a mug to take bath Ram Singh was also known to suffer from a deformity in his left hand ldquoThe matter is being inquired into by the judicial officer The exact cause of death would be known after receipt of the inquiry officerrsquos report which includes a postmortem examination report by forensic specialistrdquo ldquoAn inquiry has been ordered to ascertain how Ram Singh committed suicide in the high security Tihar jailrdquo said G Sudhakar DIG Prisons Tihar jail Family cries murder But his family alleged he was murdered and demanded a CBI inquiry ldquoHe was killed and later hanged in the jail He told us several times that he was threatened in jail We lodged a complaint in this regard It was not suicide We demand a CBI inquiryrdquo said Mange Lal Ram Singhrsquos father VK Anand his lawyer also alleged ldquofoul playrdquo and demanded an inquiry into the incident He said that Ram Singh was not in a depressed state as is being highlighted by jail officials Tihar sources said Ram Singh was earlier under suicide watch but the alert was later called off after it was assessed that he was behaving normally and was not showing any signs of depression or talking about ending his life Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde called the death ldquoa major security lapserdquo but refrained from using the word ldquosuiciderdquo Delhi police made no comment Sources said all the five men were kept under suicide watch since January after they stopped interacting with other jail inmates and even between themselves Escaped justice The rape victimrsquos 20yearold brother expressed shock over the incident ldquoRam Singh should have faced the gallows He should have been hanged publicly Ram Singh was aware that there was strong evidence against him and that he could get the death penaltyrdquo the victimrsquos brother said u00a0Lawyers and experts are of the view that trial would not be affected by the suicide The others accused in the case Pawan 19 and Akshay 29 are held in jail No 4 Vinay 20 and Mukesh 26 are in Jail no 7 The sixth accused is a juvenile lodged separately and is being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board Officials ordered an inquiry into the incidentu00a0 The case Ram Singh was the driver of the bus in which the 23yearold woman was raped by six men including him and his younger brother The six males including a minor also thrashed the womanrsquos friend and later threw them out of the moving bus in the cold December night out on the street mdash bleeding and without clothes The young student died of massive internal injuries in a Singapore hospital two weeks lateru00a0Ram Singh who had confessed to the crime had been charged in 13 cases and had been facing daytoday trial in a fasttrack court lsquoShoot us but donrsquot send us back to Tiharrsquo Meanwhile the others appealed to the judge handling their trial to move them to a different prison ldquoShoot us but donrsquot send us back to Tihar jailrdquo they said in court according to their lawyers Their request was turned down but the judge has asked jail officials to submit a daily report on the security arrangements for the suspects More than meets the eye The suicide by prime accused Ram Singh as alleged by police sprung the following questions gtgt Can a rug be used to commit suicide by hanging gtgt Are not rugs a bit too thick for making a noose Else did Ram Singh shred the rug to make a ropeu00a0 gtgtu00a0This would have taken him a few days at least and it would have been difficult to hide it gtgtu00a0How could his three cell mates sleep through the entire incident which came to light at 545 am gtgtu00a0Ram Singh is said to have slept at 230 am after talking to the three inmates he was warded with Why did the authorities refused to identify his fellow prisoners gtgtu00a0Police sources said they got a call about the hanging at 7 am Why was the police called so late when the incident occurred at 545 am gtgtu00a0According to the jail schedule the daily prayer is around 630 am and breakfast is served around 730 am If the morning prayer is at around 630 am how come no one noticed Ram Singh was missing as thatrsquos the time when the inmates get up and ready for the morning chores gtgtu00a0Police sources said Ram Singhrsquos body was hanging till then Why the delay gtgtu00a0Why did Tihar authorities lift the suicide watch a few weeks ago and why was he not put in a highsecurity jail as he was the prime accused in the gangrape case gtgtu00a0How could the guard on duty did not detect anything amiss during the night Did you know Tihar jail is Indiarsquos biggest prison and houses over 12000 prisoners Its internal security is the task of the Tamil Nadu Police The outer security is managed by other agenciesu00a0