Gangster dies in prison; kin allege torture
HOSHIARPUR: Gangster Mani Partap ‘Amritsariya’, who was undergoing life term at the Hoshiarpur central jail in the murder case of an assistant subinspector’s son, died on Sunday morning under “mysterious” circumstances.
His family has alleged torture at the hands of the jail staff whereas the prison authorities said 35-year-old Mani complained of stomach ache and he died on way to the civil hospital.
Mani’s wife Prabhjit Kaur said her husband spoke to her over the phone around 10.30 pm on Saturday and was sounding good. She said the family was informed in the morning that Mani had died. She alleged that her husband was tortured in the jail at the behest of the ASI whose son was killed in the 2016 incident. She also claimed having transferred Rs 35,000 in an account on Saturday as demanded by her husband.
“We were not allowed to meet him in the jail but we were in touch on phone,” she said, adding: “He often told us that he was tortured. Even for routine medicine, money was demanded from him. We suspect that the bank account in which he made us transfer the money belonged to a cop.”
Jail superintendent Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal refuted the allegations saying a magisterial inquiry will bring out the truth. “The inmate complained of stomach ache between 6 and 6.15am. He was attended by the jail doctor but as he started swooning, he was taken to the civil hospital in an ambulance where he was declared brought dead,” Dhaliwal said.
He revealed Mani was lodged in the jail since 2019 when he was convicted for life for the murder ASI’S son 20-year-old Layakdeep Singh, who was shot dead in Amritsar on May 21, 2016. Several criminal cases were pending against Mani, Dhaliwal said.
“As he was a high-risk prisoner, he was lodged in a separate cell in the high-security zone. Except for the duty staff, no one was allowed to enter in that cell,” he added.
As for the use of cellphone by the gangster, the superintendent said it would have to be probed. “There is very little possibility as we conduct frequent searches, but we will inquire if Mani had access to one,” he said. After the post-mortem was conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate, Mani’s relatives, accompanied by some local men, staged a protest outside the hospital mortuary and demanded a high-level inquiry into the “suspicious” death.