FAISALABAD, Jan 15: An under-trial prisoner was found dead in the Central Jail hospital’s bathroom under mysterious circumstances on Sunday. The jail officials claim that he has committed suicide by hanging himself with shower of the bathroom, as he had been mentally upset.

According to jail functionaries, Muhammad Afzal, son of Boota, was involved in a murder case lodged with the Lundianwala police station. He was shifted to the Faisalabad Central Jail about one and-a-half years ago.

He earned notoriety for being a trouble creator in the jail barracks and a fortnight ago he had inflicted injuries on his body with some sharp weapons due to which he was shifted to the jail hospital.

The officials further claimed that the injured prisoner was being treated at the hospital. On Sunday, he went to the washroom and hanged himself with shower with the help of his shawl.

Deceased’s uncle Mujahid Pansota, a union council nazim, denied the claim and insisted that Afzal was tortured to death by the jail staff which had twisted the incident as a suicide. “How could his six-footer nephew hang himself with the shower of the same height,” he asked.

He claimed that the legal heirs of the deceased prisoner were informed after five hours of the incident, which also questioned the veracity of claims made by the jail functionaries.

DIG Jails Kaukab Nadeem Warraich confirmed the report of ‘mysterious death’ of a prisoner in the jail hospital, adding that an inquiry had been ordered.

He said Afzal’s file showed that he often violated the jail manual and was a habitual trouble-creator. However, he added, the claim of the jail functionaries about the suicide would be interrogated and the cause of death brought on record after the receipt of postmortem report.

Meanwhile, District and Sessions Judge Abdul Waheed Khan has ordered a judicial inquiry and deputed Special Judicial Magistrate Kazim Awan to probe the matter. The inquiry officer visited the central jail and recorded statements of jail staff and prisoners. He also inspected the site of occurrence.

It is pertinent to mention that three other prisoners of the central jail had already died under mysterious circumstances during the last couple of days. Inquiries initiated in the cases had borne no fruit so far.