A 23-year-old remand prisoner of the Vellore Central Prison for Men died in the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital during the early hours of Thursday. He was lodged in the prison during the late hours of June 4, in connection with a house break-in case in Omarabad police station limit.
A judicial inquiry has been ordered following the mysterious death of the prisoner, Rizwan, a resident of Sapotta Thoppu Street in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar in Pernmabut.
Omarabad police had arrested Rizwan for robbing Rs 40,000 cash and 3.5 sovereigns of gold jewels from Murugan’s house in Onukuttai village around noon on Tuesday. Though Murugan’s daughter Manjula and others tried to catch him, he managed to escape with the valuables. He, however, abandoned the bicycle he had used. Following a complaint from Murugan, police registered a case against Rizwan and launched a search for him. Police nabbed him around 3 pm on Tuesday and recovered the stolen property. “When cops tried to arrest him, he tried to escape and sustained injuries,” a policeman attached to Omarabad station said. He denied that the public had assaulted him.
Rizwan was a habitual offender and there were several day house break-in cases filed against him in Ambur Taluk, Pernambut and Omarabad Police Stations, he added.
Rizwan was lodged in Central Prison around 11.40 pm on Tuesday night. “Rizwan had contusions on his lower and upper limbs. When questioned, he said he had been assaulted by a section of public when he was caught,” added a prison official.
SP Arivudainambe said the doctors in the prison had treated him the very next day. Doctors referred him to the GHafter he complained of breathing problems. “He was admitted in the GH on Wednesday afternoon and died around 2.30 am on Thursday,” Arivudainambe said.
Judge of Judicial Magistrate Court- II Revathy conducted an inquiry with Rizwan’s brothers, mother and maternal uncle, who had come to receive his body after post-mortem. The vital organs of the deceased were preserved for pathology tests to find out the cause of the death. Vellore Taluk Police registered a case under Section 176 of CrPc.
