SANGHAR, Dec 12: Riots broke out in the district jail, Sanghar, after the death of an under trial prisoner allegedly due to torture by the jail officials here on Friday.

The prisoners started rioting when they came to know about the death of their jail mate.

Contingents of the frontier constabulary were called in to control the riots which lobbed tear gas shells to subdue the prisoners.

The fuming relatives of the deceased also attacked police after snatching a gun from a jail official in the Civil Hospital where the body was brought for the post-mortem.

The deceased Mohammad Akbar, son of Bachal Khan Mari, died when the jail staff allegedly put gutter water mixed with lime in his nostrils, claimed the relatives of the deceased while talking to this correspondent at the Civil Hospital.

They said that the deceased was sent to the district jail under the Arms Act and other cases three months back. He sent a message through Mohammad Tufail and Ghulam Hussain, who were with him in the district jail, and bailed out on Dec 6, to send Rs3,000 otherwise he would be tortured.

The demand was fulfilled and the amount was sent and was paid at the gate. Again the jail staff demanded money, alleged the father of the deceased, when he was brought for hearing in the court on Dec 8.

The aggrieved father of the deceased, Bachal Khan, alleged that his son wept when he met him in front of the session court and insisted to arrange another amount of Rs3,000, which the jail staff had demanded.

On hearing the news of the death several dozen of youths of the Mari tribe gathered in the Hospital and raised slogans against the jail staff.

In the meantime, the body was brought to the Civil Hospital where angry youths attacked the jail staff, snatched a gun from a sepoy and resorted to aerial firing.

The jail police ran away leaving the body behind.

The district police were called in to control the situation. The youths threw the gun on ground after its magazine became empty and was recovered by the police.

Afterwards the jail mates resorted to rioting in the district jail. The FC men were called in to control the situation.

This correspondent heard shouts and screams near the district jail. The policemen posted on the jail towers were seen shouting for water amid smoke of tear gas shells. No one was allowed to approach the jail which had become a battle ground.

Till filing of this report the rioting was going on.

The jail superintendent, Younus Masih, however, claimed that the deceased had died due to cardiac arrest. “How can jail authorities torture someone in the presence of hundreds of prisoners”, he added.