Inmate uses spoon to kill and disfigure friend

Jail officials claim he was killed by inmate, who was found unstable and hysterical after the murder.

KARACHI:

On Sunday, the former deputy director of the Malir Development Authority, Bisharat Hussain, was found dead in his cell at Central Jail.

Jail officials claim that he was killed by an inmate identified as Mohammad Ahmed. The jail superintendent Khalid Sheikh said that Ahmed was unstable and hysterical after the murder. He added that both prisoners were sick - Hussain was diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure while Ahmed had heart problems and asthma.

While talking about the relationship between both men, Sheikh said that they became friends four to five months ago in the jail’s hospital. “They use to sit, talk, walk and eat together all the time,” he said. “We do not know how or why this happened. It was very unexpected.”

The superintendent added that Hussain had recently moved to the Raheem Ward of the prison after they found a cell phone in his other cell on March 23. With the help of a sepoy indentified as Abbas, Ahmed also made his way to the Raheem Ward.

Two days after the move, the two men had a fight and Ahmed attacked Hussain with a sharp edged weapon. According to Sheikh, the suspect used a spoon to disfigure Hussain’s face and then kill him.

The New Town police registered FIR no. 130/12 against Ahmed on behalf of Sheikh and transferred him to another cell. Hussain’s body was taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi, where the police surgeon said that he was attacked repeatedly.

His family staged a protest and demanded an inquiry into the case. Hussain was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Police last year for fraud and was sent to jail in September 2011. His case was being processed at court.

What next

At the moment there are 3,976 prisoners at Central Jail but it only has a capacity of 2,400 – the Rahim Ward is a special ward with 15 small cells. A similar incident took place at the prison a couple of days ago, where the suspect managed to injure another inmate.

The prison administration has decided to change the way things are done especially transferring inmates to jails in other parts of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2012.