Did Ram Singh escape the noose?

The death of Ram Singh, the main accused in the brutal December 16 Vasant Vihar gang-rape case, has turned a spotlight on lapses by Tihar Jail officials, and the number of 'unnatural' deaths at the high-security prison over the past 10 years. Singh's death, which is alleged to have come at his own hand, highlighted the number of suicides at the jail. According to a report by the Department of Psychiatry, Central Jail Hospital, Tihar, around 20 prisoners committed suicide in Tihar Jail over the last decade. All were pre-trial verdict inmates, like 35-year-old Ram Singh, who became the twenty-first inmate to have died an unnatural death. In 2012, two inmates committed suicide in the prison. Singh, who was lodged inside a high security cell of Jail No. 3 and had been on suicide watch, was found hanging in his cell early on Monday. At least one guard from the Tamil Nadu Police was stationed round-the-clock outside his cell. But, around 5.45am, other inmates found his lifeless body hanging from the ceiling and informed the jail authorities. A report by Tihar Jail's own hospital cites that the actual number of suicides at the prison may be higher than official figures suggest. Such deaths are under-reported in a jail that houses almost 12,000 inmates.

B K Gupta, a former Police Commissioner & director general (Prisons), said: "You cannot stop suicides from taking place in prisons, including Tihar. There are four to five cases reported every year in Tihar. "We have to wait for the post-mortem report and the judicial inquiry report before arriving at any early conclusion. But interesting would be to find out if the CCTV was working in the cell where Ram Singh was kept. He was in a high-risk ward with other inmates and in such cells CCTVs work 24/7." Prone to violent behaviour and frequent mood swings, Singh was kept under suicide watch. He had allegedly shown suicidal tendencies and was said to remain aloof inside the prison. According to sources inside Tihar Jail, there were three other inmates in the cell where he was kept but all of them were asleep when Singh died. Jail sources said that Ram Singh and his cell-mates had their dinner and slept at 10pm on Sunday. "A guard had last checked his cell at around 2am and by then everything was all right. It is quite possible that he might have committed suicide at a time between 3.30am to 5.45am, when everybody is fast asleep in the jail," said a jail insider. Singh, who was to be produced before court for its daily hearing, was rushed to the jail hospital where he was declared brought-in dead. His body has been preserved in the mortuary of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre.