Taloja inmate suicide: Wife moves Bombay high court for probe

A few days after a 27-year-old prisoner allegedly committed suicide in the Taloja jail by hanging himself in the prison’s bathroom, his wife has filed a writ petition before the Bombay high court, pleading the court to direct any independent agency to investigate the case. The deceased’s wife Pooja Singh has pleaded that an independent inquiry should be conducted in the case in order to check if there was any foul play behind her husband Pankaj Singh’s death.

Singh’s lawyer Kaushik Mhatre said: “I was appearing for the deceased in the alleged vehicle-robbery case, which the Matunga police had falsely registered against my client in 2013. The police were allegedly forcing my client to accept that he was involved in the theft. When he refused to oblige, they badly assaulted him in prison. Tired of the torture, my client committed suicide.”

A suicide note which was recovered from the spot allegedly named a Matunga police station officer.