PATIALA: A 60-year-old travel agent died inside the Patiala Central Jail in early hours of Saturday. The family of deceased Abdul Gafar claimed that he was tortured to death by jail officials after heated arguments over denial of permission to offer Friday namaz. Gafar, who was convicted in a cheque bounce case, was about to complete his sentence, his family said refuting police version that he committed suicide.His body was brought to the mortuary of Rajindra Government Hospital and a panel of two doctors constituted to conduct the postmortem examination. Gafar is survived by his wife Kirna Begum and two sons and a daughter.Gafar’s nephew Mohammad Ashfaq told TOI that he hailed from Malerkotla town of Sangrur district . “He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh by a local court in Patiala on the complaint of one Kashmira Singh of Patiala. Gafar’s jail term was extended by three more months after he failed to pay the fine,” Ashfaq said.He alleged that complainant Singh’s son was police constable and had continuously threatened Gafar in jail. “Only two days before the tragedy, Gafar had found a way to call his family on family from the jail. He had told us that he was being threatened. On Friday, he had sought permission to offer namaaz. After he was not allowed to pray, he had an argument with some of the officials,”Ashfaq said.“Now, jail officials are claiming that he committed suicide using a crepe bandage to hang himself. Big question is why would he do that when he had served 11 out of the 13 months of his sentence,” he asked.When contacted, Patiala jail superintendent Rajan Kapoor refuted all the allegations levelled by the family. “The inmate was under stress as his family had failed to arrange money for his bail bond for six months,” he said.

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