Probe ordered into deaths of prisoners

The Kamrup Metropolitan district administration has ordered separate inquiries into the deaths of two septuagenarian prisoners of the Central Jail, Guwahati, an official release said here.

The two convicts had died last month in two hospitals in Guwahati and separate probe orders were given for the two deaths.

Abdul Sabhan, aged 76, expired at the B Barooah Cancer Institute here on April 24 during treatment, while Raj Karan Singh, 70, died at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital the previous day, the release said.

Sabhan, who hailed from Morigaon district, had been transferred to Guwahati from Morigaon District Jail on August 9 last year for better medical treatment.

Singh was from Kamrup Metropolitan district and he was admitted to hospital on April 23 because of his illness and he died on the same day, it said.

The probe reports are to be submitted to the National Human Rights Commission and the Assam Human Rights Commission, the release said.

Submitting reports on death of prisoners while serving term to the NHRC or the AHRC is part of a routine official procedure, official sources said.