LUCKNOW: Sitapur deputy jailer Vijay Lakshmi Gautam, jail pharmacist Shailendra Verma, jail staff Sudhanshu Srivastava and an unidentified jail employee have been booked for the murder of an undertrial in April 2023.The FIR was lodged following a district court order.

The victim’s mother had moved court accusing jail officialsof torturing her son and negligence in treatment, leading to his death.Babloo Singh (28) was an accused in agang rape case and lodged in Sitapur district jail.Circle officer (city) Sushil Kumar Singh said an FIR has been registered against the jail officials and an investigation is underway.In her complaint, the victim’s mother, Seema Singh, alleged that the accused jail officials tried to extort money from her son and, when he refused, he was subjected to brutal torture.“Whenever we met him in jail, he always urged us to give money so that he could give it to the jail officials,” she alleged.“On April 14, 2023, the accused jail officials tortured my son and he breathed his last.

Later, as a part of a conspiracy, they shifted him to the district hospital where he was declared brought dead,” she alleged.Her complaint to the senior police officials, state women’s commission, human rights panel didn’t yield any result.

“I later moved court with my petition,” she said.A police officer said Babloo was sent to the district hospital on April 14 after his health deteriorated.

He died during treatment, he claimed.“The post-mortem was conducted by a panel.

The viscera and the whole heart was preserved, while the exact cause of death could not be ascertained,” he said.Following his death, some prison inmates started protesting and refused to eat food, alleging negligence in his treatment.Senior officers of the district administration and police had then arrived to control the situation.A police officer said Babloo was sent to the district hospital on April 14 after his health deteriorated.