PATIALA: A 60-year-old man Abdul Gafar , travel agent by profession died inside the premises of Patiala Central Jail on wee hours of Saturday. The family of the deceased claimed that he was tortured by the jail officials with whom he had landed in a heated argument over the denial of permission to offer his Friday prayers(Jumma Namaz).The dead body of the deceased was brought to the mortuary of the government Rajindra hospital for post-mortem. The health authorities immediately constituted a panel of two doctors to conduct the post-mortem. The deceased Abdul was about to complete his total 13 months jail term in September this year. However, the jail officials claimed his death as suicide. .Abdul who hails from Malerkotla of Sangrur district was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment last year along with a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh by a local court in Patiala. His imprisonment was extended for three more months following his failure to pay the fine imposed by the court. He was convicted in a case of cheating and other sections of Indian Penal Code on the complaint of Kashmira Singh of Patiala.The family of the deceased alleged that complainant’s son was a police officer and had continuously threatened Abdul in jail to torture him to death. Abdul is survived by his wife Kirna begum and two sons and a daughter."Only two days before this incident Abdul had informed the family members over a phone that he is being threatened to be tortured and killed. He was convicted after a cheque got bounced in a case of cheating registered against him. On Friday he had sought permission for Namaaz but was not allowed following which he landed in arguments with the officials. Now the jail officials want to show this murder as a suicide whereas it is a big question is that why Abdul, who was completing his jail term in the next two months, will commit suicide?" asked, Mohammad Ashfaq , son of Abdul’s brother.Upon being contacted Patiala Jail Superintendent Rajan Kapoor said that he was a meeting and would comment over the issue later.Jail Superintendent Rajan Kapoor refuted all the allegations leveled by the family and said, "Abdul was under stress from long time even his family had failed to clear his bail Bond from last 6 months."

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