Annual Report 1999-2000 Death in custody due to police negligence: Uttar Pradesh (Case No. 3583/24/97-98/CD) The death of an undertrial prisoner, Rajan Singh, was intimated to the Commission by the Additional Inspector General of Prisons, Uttar Pradesh. According to the report received, Shri Rajan Singh had been detained in District Jail, Agra, since 18 January 1995. On 20 September 1995, he tried to escape from a police truck while he was being taken to court along with 13 other undertrial prisoners. It was further reported that another undertrial prisoner, Sanjay Tiwari, who was also travelling in the same truck, jumped and escaped from custody. The post-moft.em report stated that death had occurred due to shock and haemorrhage caused by ante-mortem injuries. The magisterial report stated that Rajan Singh had consiuned liquor supplied by police personnel while he was in custody, and had also picked up a fight with them under the influence of liquor. The report held the police personnel guilty of negligence for not having given adequate and satisfactory escort to the prisoner. The Commission was of the view that the theory of escape from custody was make believe. The injuries supposedly caused by jumping from a moving vehicle, particularly when there was no mention that he was prevented by anyone from jumping, could not have been so serious and extensive as to have caused death. Further, the magisterial enquiry indicating that Rajan Singh had been administered liquor while in custody, pointed to the fact that he could have been subjected to beating while in the police vehicle. The Commission concluded that the life of a young man had been cruelly ended owing to torture and beating by police personnel. The Commission thus directed the State to pay immediate interim relief of Rs. 5 lakhs to the next of kin of the deceased. The Commission questioned as to whether the second undertrial prisoner, Sanjay Tiwari, had really escaped from custody or had been done to death and his body disposed of. It directed the Government to entrust the two cases to the State Crime Branch Central Investigation Department (CBCID) for in-depth investigation and action thereon. The Commission also recommended initiation of appropriate^ disciplinary action for major penalties against all those responsible for the two incidents, and suitable action taken in accordance with the law. Suicide in police lock-up: Kolar, Kamataka (Case No. 12098/96-97/NHRC) The Commission was informed by the Superintendent of Police of Kolar District of the death of one Thimmaiah in the Mulbagal Police Station. Thimmaiah had allegedly committed suicide with a nylon rope hung from a window bar in the toilet of the police 96