Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh died of cardiac arrest at a Lahore hospital during the wee hours of today. This was disclosed by Dr Mahmood Shaukat, head of the medical board that was supervising Sarabjit's treatment at the Jinnah hospital. Another doctor, who was part of the medical board, said Sarabjit died of cardiac arrest and doctors made several unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him. Indian High Commission officials said in Islamabad that they have been informed by the hospital officials about Sarabjit's death. Dr Shaukat said, authorities are yet to decide on conducting an autopsy on Sarabjit's body. He said, no decision has been taken about handing over the body to Sarabjit's kin or to Indian authorities. Dr Shaukat said, these matters will be worked out according to the directions from the government.
Earlier in the day, official sources in Lahore had said that Sarabjit has slipped into a non-reversible coma and this could lead to brain death. Sarabjit's heart was beating but without brain function because of the extensive head injuries he sustained when he was assaulted on Friday. Sarabjit was completely unresponsive and unable to breathe without ventilator support. 49-year old Sarabjit sustained severe injuries, including a fractured skull, when at least six prisoners attacked him in a barrack at Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday. He was hit on the head with bricks and had been comatose in hospital since then.
Police have booked two death row prisoners – Amer Aftab and Mudassar – for the attack. No action has been taken so far against officials of the jail for failing to provide adequate security to Sarabjit. Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur, daughters Poonam and Swapandeep Kaur and sister Dalbir Kaur, who went to Lahore on Tuesday to see him, returned to India yesterday.
The Indian national was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990 and spent about 22 years in Pakistani prisons. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.
The previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government put off Sarabjit's execution for an indefinite period in 2008. Sarabjit's family says he was the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.
Following the rapid deterioration in Sarabjit's condition, New Delhi had requested that he be immediately released so that he could be treated in India or a third country.