New Delhi: The body of the Indian prisoner from Jammu who was allegedly beaten to death in a Pakistani jail earlier this year has been handed over to Indian officials. Arrested in Sialkot in 2010 and accused of spying, Chamel Singh was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Pakistani Court.
His body was handed over at Wagah Border on Wednesday and he will be cremated at his village on Thursday. The cause of Singh's death remains unclear as it will take a while for the post-mortem report to be handed over to the Indian diplomatic mission in Islamabad.
"The body of Chamel Singh has arrived here in Jammu from Pakistan tonight," SSP Jammu Rajeshwar Singh said. The body 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.
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 January 15 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 January 15. A note verbale on the matter did not mention the cause of Singh's death.
With Additional Inputs from PTI
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