Punjab to extend all benefits to Kirpal Singh's family

The Punjab government will extend all help and relief to the family of Indian prisoner Kirpal Singh who died under mysterious circumstances in a jail in Lahore, a state government spokesman said on Saturday.

"His family will be extended all help and relief which had been given to another Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh," the spokesman said.

Kirpal Singh, an ex-serviceman, had been lodged in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison since 1992.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also assured the family of another Indian prisoner, Nanak Singh, who has been convicted for life and lodged in a Pakistani jail, that efforts would be made to ensure his release.

Badal said the government was in constant touch with the external affairs ministry to prevail upon Pakistan to secure Nanak Singh's safe return to India immediately.

Kirpal Singh, 54, who was arrested in Pakistan in 1992, died in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison on Monday.

While the Pakistani authorities, who had labelled him as a spy and got him convicted for terror attacks inside Pakistan, attributed his death to heart attack, his family has alleged that he had crossed into Pakistan inadvertently and was murdered in prison.

Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner, died after a murderous attack by fellow prisoners in a Lahore jail in April 2013.