Indian convict dies in Lahore jail

Amritsar: An Indian death row prisoner in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail died after a heart attack on Monday. Kirpal Singh, who was lodged in the jail since 1992 after his conviction for spying, was admitted to Jinnah hospital where he died later, said managing trustee of Edhi Foundation Faisal Edhi.
According to Faisal, Kirpal had crossed over to Pakistan on February 29, 1992, and was arrested on charges of planting a bomb and spying.He was sentenced to death by a Pakistan court. Later, the high court had acquitted him in the bomb planting case but didn't rescind the death sentence for spying.
However, Kirpal's nephew Ashwani Kumar said the family was not informed about the death. He said Kirpal had written a letter to his sister Jagir Kaur a few weeks ago wherein he had asked for some cloths. Kirpal's arrest in Pakistan was first came to light when he had written a letter to his friend Gurmeet Singh in 2006.
In a letter to his sister, Kirpal had mentioned that he had embraced Islam and used to performs Namaz in the jail. When a campaign for the release of another Indian prisoner in Pakistan jail Sarabjit Singh was at its peak in 2013, Kirpal's relatives had sent a special power of attorney to Pakistan's rights activist Awais Sheikh, authorizing him to take all possible legal action for his release. Sheikh was also a counsel for Sarabjit Singh, who died in Lahore jail in May, 2013.
Jagir urged the government to help bring back his body home.