The body of Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh, who died under suspicious circumstances in a Lahore jail last week, arrived in India yesterday. His family members alleged his body bore injury marks and that foul play led to his death, but doctors who conducted an autopsy denied this.
A medical board which conducted the postmortem said there were no external or internal injury marks on the body.
Ashok Sharma, head of the three-member medical board, however, said the cause of death has not been established yet.
The doctor also said some organs from Singh’s body were missing, as an autopsy was earlier done in Pakistan.
“In the postmortem examination, it was found that there was no external or internal injury on the body. Postmortem of this body has already been done (in Pakistan) because stitches were present on the body and the head,” Sharma said.
“When we opened the body, we found that some of the organs were missing because when a postmortem is done, some organs are taken to test to find out whether there is any disease or not,” he said.
“... rest of the organs which were present, we took out portions of those organs and we sent them for testing (to know) about diseases as well as poisoning. I can say with 100% accuracy that the wound marks which are inflicted during life, they cannot be removed. The cause of death has not been established yet,” the doctor added.
Singh’s body was earlier handed over to the Border Security Force at the Attari-Wagah joint check post, and immediately taken for postmortem in Amritsar. The body was later taken to Gurdaspur district for cremation in Singh’s native village.
His family members alleged Singh was murdered either by fellow prisoners or prison officials in Pakistan.
Close relatives and residents from Singh’s village were present at Attari, 30km from Amritsar, when the body was brought back to India.
The coffin was carried by porters on the Indian side even as family members showered flowers on it.
Close family members were allowed to see the body to identify Singh’s mortal remains.
Pakistani authorities have attributed his death to a heart attack, but his family has alleged he was murdered in prison.
“He has been murdered by the Pakistanis under a conspiracy. He was the sole witness to the murder of Sarabjit Singh in the Lahore prison. We want a thorough inquiry and a postmortem to know the truth of his death,” Singh’s nephew told reporters outside the hospital mortuary.
Singh, the family has maintained, had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan and was arrested and charged with spying by the Pakistani authorities.
His family had met federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi last week to seek the immediate repatriation of his body to India.
The Punjab government has offered to extend all help and relief to Singh’s family on the same lines as given to another Sarabjit Singh, who was murdered in the same prison in Lahore in April 2013.
Kirpal Singh, a former serviceman, was lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison since 1992. He died on April 11.
The Pakistani authorities had labelled him a spy and got him convicted for terror attacks inside Pakistan. He was initially sentenced to death which was later converted to 20 years’ imprisonment.