6 prisoner deaths in a week at Tihar

New Delhi: Two prisoners of Delhi’s Tihar Jail died on Tuesday, taking the number of inmate deaths to six in less than a week.

Vinod Kumar, an alcoholic, died in the jail hospital and Santosh, who was ill, died in a city hospital. "Kumar was a chronic alcoholic. He was admitted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on Monday after he complained of uneasiness. We brought him to the jail hospital for detoxification," said a jail spokesperon.

Kumar, a resident of Patel Nagar in Delhi, was arrested on Sunday. Scores of people assembled at the Patel Nagar police station here alleging foul play in his death.

Later in the day, a convict identified as Santosh died at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where he was admitted on June four.

Prison officials, however, were unable to specify the nature of his ailment and his whereabout were also not immediately known.

Meanwhile, in the wake of wave of deaths in a span of a week, the jail authorities have decided that there will be daily medical check-up of the prisoners. Over-crowding is a severe problem in Tihar, which has around 13,726 inmates—more than double its approved capacity of 6,200.