June 24, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1429

KARACHI, June 23: An Indian fisherman was electrocuted in the Landhi jail on Monday morning, jail authorities said.

Inspector-General of Prisons, Sindh, Mohammed Yamin Khan told APP that the prisoner, Bhagwan Bheka, was electrocuted when he came in contact with the pump in the bathroom of his barrack while bathing.

The inquest report prepared by a magistrate has established the prisoner’s death as accidental, according to the IG.

Mr Khan stated that the interior and foreign ministries had since been informed of the Indian national’s death. The body was sent to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) for autopsy.

Bheka was arrested along with a group of Indian fishermen on April 21 allegedly for trespassing into Pakistani waters and was lodged in the Landhi jail.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Fisheries Zahid Ali Bhurgari has said that the issue of the release of Pakistani fishermen languishing in Indian jails would be taken up with the federal authorities at a meeting in Islamabad on July 31, our staff reporter adds.

Talking to various delegations of fishermen here on Monday, the minister said that directives had been issued to officials to prepare a list of such prisoners hailing from Sindh.