The prime suspect accused in the New Delhi gang rape case hung himself in jail on Monday, police officials confirmed.
Ram Singh, 33, was accused of driving the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was brutally gang raped and fatally attacked. According to the officials, he hung himself in Tihar jail in New Delhi, using his clothes around 5 a.m.
Local media reported Singh was rushed to the jail hospital where he was declared dead. Singh was charged with rape, murder and abduction, along with four other men. The sixth accused, a juvenile, is being tried separately.
Authorities at the prison said Singh was under suicide watch. According to a Press Trust of India report, Delhi Chief Minister met Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde after the suicide and said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered.
The family of dead accused said they believe Singh was killed.
"My son has not committed suicide," Mangelal Singh the AFP. "I had met him six days back at the court. He had told me that his life is in danger and he also said that he had been sodomized by his fellow inmates."
Ram Singh's mother, Kalyani Devi, said her son showed "slash marks" on his body as proof of torture. She called the accused actions of her son a "mistake."
"He made a mistake-he admitted that to us-but even God forgives one mistake," she said. "He was not even given a chance to repent."
VK Anand, who is representing Singh and his brother Mukesh, accused in the gang rape, raised questions over his client's death.
"There was no reason for him to commit suicide," he said. "There is some foul play. He is not such a person who can commit suicide. He was very happy with the way trial was going."
The gang rape of a woman in a moving bus drew massive anger across the nation. The victim and her male friend were returning home in a private bus after watching a movie. The accused six men were on-board and had a scuffle with the two.
The men beat the victim's friend with a metal rod and later raped her. One of them inserted the rod in her which caused internal injuries. The two were dumped on the roadside naked. The victim was transferred to a Singapore hospital where she died.
The victim's brother said that guilt might have made Singh hang himself.
"We are surprised at the suicide but we are not sad," he told reporters. "He would have been hanged even otherwise. We wanted him to be hanged publicly. Now we are waiting for the four others to be sent to gallows."
He also added that Singh knew he would have got the death sentence as there were ample evidences against him.
Read more: Seven-Year-Old Girl Raped in Delhi
