The mystery shrouding the death of Satnam Singh, the 23-year-old youth from Bihar who created a ruckus at the Mata Amritanandamayi Math at Vallikkavu on August 1 by charging towards the dais where Mata was giving darsan, has further deepened with the inquest report reportedly stating that that there were around 30 injury marks on his body.
Satnam Singh was brought dead at the Medical College Hospital here on Saturday night from the Mental Health Hospital at Peroorkada here where he was housed. A cousin of the deceased, Vimal Kishore, alleged here on Sunday that there were around 35 injury marks on his body which were not there before Singh was sent to jail. The post-mortem of Singh, who was arrested by the police on charges of attempt to assault Mata Amritanandamayi, will be conducted on Monday. The Peroorkada police have registered a case for unnatural death. Vimal Kishore, a journalist with Aaj Tak in New Delhi, also said that his family would file a petition in the High Court on Monday seeking an investigation into the death after Satnam’s father Hareendra Kumar Singh arrived. ‘’I had met him on August 2 before he was sent to jail. At that time there were no marks on his body. I pleaded with the police to get him admitted to a mental hospital as he was suffering from mental illness for the past two years. But they rejected the request saying that he could be housed in jail as he was physically fit,’’ Vimal Kishore told ‘Express.’
Meanwhile, Dr G Sunilkumar, Superintendent of the Mental Health Hospital, said that Satnam’s death was unnatural. ‘’He had a fight with the other inmate of the cell where he was lodged in the evening. It was only around 6 p.m. that the hospital staff came to know about the incident as they saw him lying down in the room,’’ Dr Sunil Kumar said. Singh was brought to the hospital from Kollam District Jail on August 2, after he exhibited symptoms of mental abnormality. The Additional District Magistrate (ADM) sought report from the superintendent and district medical officer in connection with his death. Satnam Singh a native of Gaya in Bihar was undergoing treatment for mental illness for the past two years. According to Vimal Kishore, Satnam had to discontinue his LLB course owing to illness. He went missing from Gaya on May 14,’’ said Kishore.
According to Kollam District Jail officials, Satnam Singh had not suffered injuries while in jail.
District Jail Superintendent M K Vinod Kumar told ‘Express’ that he was lodged in the cell for remand prisoners along with eight other inmates. When he turned violent around midnight, the other prisoners overpowered him and the jail authorities rushed him to the district hospital, from where he was later moved to Peroorkada Mental Health Hospital.
The Jail Superintendent, however, said that he had not suffered any injuries in the scuffle.