Pakistani prisoner found dead in Srinagar Central jail

Jail administrators say judicial probe into incident has been ordered.

SRINAGAR: A Pakistani prisoner who was arrested by authorities in India for trespassing more than two years ago was found hanging inside a jail in Indian Kashmir, an official said Saturday.

Shaukat Ali, 42, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, had been lodged in a jail in Amphala, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) from the region's main city of Srinagar, since December 2011.

He was arrested on charges of illegally crossing the de facto border between the two rival countries.

"An inmate informed the jail authorities last (Friday) night that Showkat was hanging from the grill of a toilet in the barracks," jail superintendent Harish Kotwal told AFP.

"He was hanging by a scarf and after he was brought down, the jail doctor declared him dead," Kotwal said.

The incident will be investigated by a magistrate and formalities for handing over his body to Pakistani authorities have begun, another police officer said.

In May last year, a Pakistani prisoner died after he was savagely beaten in an Indian jail in an apparent tit-for-tat assault. The dead body of the Sanaullah Ranjay arrived in Pakistan on May 9 and was taken to his hometown of Sialkot. Islamabad had demanded an international probe into the crime.