JAMMU: Kashmir’s junior minister for home affairs has told the Legislative Assembly that Pakistani authorities have formally agreed to send the body of Indian prisoner Chambail Singh back home.
Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo in reply to an adjournment motion by Harsh Dev Singh said: “As per fax message received from Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has been formally told by the Pakistan authorities that post-mortem of the body of Chambail Singh has been conducted and body will be handed over shortly.”
Kitchloo said that the High Commission of India is also in touch with one of the sons of the deceased about the status of the case.
He said that the High Commission of India will bear the expenses of transportation of the body as an when it is handed over by the Pakistan.
Chambail Singh, a resident of Jammu and kashmir, was detained in Pakistan in early 2010 on charges of spying. He was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment starting August, 18 2010.
A Pakistani lawyer had alleged that Singh was beaten to death by prison staff. Singh was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the state-run Jinnah Hospital on January 15.
Authorities then launched a judicial inquiry into his death.
Singh was to complete his term in 2015.
The minister was replying to the Adjournment motion moved by a legislator Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, which was also supported by legislators Harsh Dev Singh, Ashok Khajuria, Jugal Kishore and Krishan Chander Bhagat.
