CUTTACK: A 38-year-old under-trial prisoner (UTP), lodged in the Model Convict Prison at Radharamanpur in Athagarh, died after allegedly complaining of uneasiness in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The deceased is Md Tayab of Pankal village within Tigiria police limits. Tayab was arrested in December last year for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling and slaughtering.
Jailor Sukant Rout said Tayab was sleeping along with other inmates when at around 4.40 am, he complained of feeling uneasy and subsequently collapsed. “We rushed him to the Athagarh sub-divisional hospital where doctors declared him received dead,” he added.
However, on getting information about his death, Tayab’s family members staged road blockade on Khuntuni-Narasinghpur SH-65 at Pankal alleging he had been murdered inside the jail.
“Tayab had spoken to his mother on Tuesday and informed that he would be granted bail in two days. However, the jail authorities called us today informing that he has died. We suspect foul play as the cause of his death has not yet been disclosed,” the kin alleged further seeking a thorough probe into the matter.
Meanwhile owing to the road blockade, vehicular traffic on the route was paralysed for over five hours. The blockade was lifted only after the district administration officials and police assured the protesters of conducting a thorough probe into the matter.