Ram Singh's death : Was it suicide or foul play

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New Delhi: The report by the Tihar jail authorities on the alleged suicide by Ram Singh, the main accused in the Delhi gang-rape case, has left a number of questions unanswered, leading to suspicion over what actually happened.
Jail sources said it was highly unlikely that the three other inmates in his cell in Jail No. 3 would not have noticed anything suspicious at night given that the cell was very small.
Further, Ram Singh was talking to the three other inmates till around 2 at night, it is learnt. Any movement or noise in the cell would have alerted the others immediately.
Second, the railing of the ventilator was at a height of at least 8 to 10 feet, and it would not have been possible for Ram Singh, who was around 5 ft-7 inch tall, to tie the knot of a loop alone, considering the fact that an iron rod was inserted in his left hand following an accident a few years ago.
He also had a minor deformity in his right hand. “Since Ram Singh was physically challenged to some extent due to injury in both arms, it was not possible for him to hang himself in this way,” a source pointed out.
Further, there was no table or stool in the cell to reach that height. Only a plastic bucket used by inmates for bathing was found in the cell. But prison sources claim that by standing on the bucket too, Ram Singh would have fallen well short of the height of the ventilator.
Prison sources also confirmed that Ram Singh had been repeatedly physically assaulted by other inmates. “Ram Singh was physically assaulted and abused by other inmates, and this might have led to some kind of an altercation last night,” a top official said.
There were no CCTV cameras inside the cell as only one camera was installed in the corridor outside.
A drunkard, volatile man
Ram Singh had a volatile personality, according to his close friends. The 33-year-old bus driver was known among his friends as “mental case”.
If his close friends are to be believed, Ram Singh was not remorseful of what he did to the 23-year-old physiotherapist and her male friend on the fateful night of December 16. During investigation, he told the Delhi Police that he took pleasure in brutalising women and assaulting them.
He also said that he went berserk after he was bitten by the girl, when his gang tried to rape her.The influence of alcohol and the victims’ strong defiance made him angry. He picked up a rod and hit the two badly and his accomplices also followed suit.
Ram Singh, a heavy drinker, reportedly started picking up fights at the slightest pretext after the death of his wife two years ago. An accident case was also registered against him.
Inspector Anil Sharma, who was the head of team investigating the rape case, had found Ram Singh a cold and remorseless man. 
He had even tried to destroy evidence by washing the bus, and told his accomplices to not worry and lie low for some time.
Next: Ram Singh’s lawyer cries foul
                                          Ram Singh’s lawyer cries foul
New Delhi: The driver of the bus in which a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and fatally injured in December 2012 hanged himself in his cell on Monday, Tihar prison authorities said, but his lawyer has suspected a “foul play” in the incident.
Ram Singh’s lawyer, V.K. Anand, said his client had been composed and calm when he spoke to him in court on Friday and “didn't have any complaints”. Singh, who faced the death penalty if convicted of murder, had not been on suicide watch, Anand and a prison official said.
Prison spokesman Sunil Gupta said  Singh fashioned a noose from threads torn from the mat he slept on and his clothes, and hanged himself from a grille in the ceiling before dawn.
Gupta, however, could not say how long it would have taken Singh to make the noose or how he had managed to loop it through the grill, which was eight feet (2.3 metres) above the floor.
Dismissing Gupta’s argument, Anand, said, “I know he had a few complaints of jail authorities torturing him, but nothing that would make him take his own life. We can't rule out foul play. Nothing is adding up." Anand said.  He did not elaborate on the “torture”.
A fast track court has sought an inquiry report by Wednesday from the Tihar jail officials on the alleged suicide by Singh.
Reacting to the incident, women and child development minister Krishna Tirath told reporters “I think if such a thing has happened, then the Home Ministry or other agencies would hold an inquiry into it. But I don’t think there is such a thing when he is in jail and he knew that he would be punished.
“People were demanding death sentence for him but he was to be sentenced for life and perhaps because of frustration he may have done something. This would be known after the inquiry.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the wake of the incident and said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into it.