Undertrial accused of brother’s murder dies by suicide in Munger jail

Patna: A 21-year-old undertrial prisoner, arrested for allegedly murdering his elder brother, died by suicide after jumping from the roof of Munger Mandal Jail on Friday morning.The deceased was identified as Manish Kumar, son of Kapildev Bind and a resident of Madhuban Dariyapur village under Haveli Kharagpur police station area in Munger district.Following the incident, senior jail and police officials reached Munger Sadar Hospital and launched an inquiry. The deceased’s family has been informed about the incident. Munger superintendent of police Syed Imran Masood, the Sadar SDPO and other senior officers are supervising the investigation.Jail superintendent Kiran Nidhi said Manish had been lodged in Munger Mandal Jail since May 20 after being arrested in connection with the murder of his 26-year-old elder brother, Nitish Kumar.

He said police are probing the circumstances that led to the undertrial’s death.The murder of Nitish took place on May 18 night after the brothers had closed their temporary food stall set up during a Shri Vishnu Mahayagya in their village. The next morning, Nitish was found with severe head injuries, allegedly inflicted with a hammer and another heavy object. He was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Initially, the family alleged that Manish had been abducted and they accused several villagers of attacking Nitish over resentment linked to another brother’s love marriage. However, the investigation took a different turn after police found Nitish’s missing mobile phone near Haveli Kharagpur lake power station, where Manish was found.According to police, Manish later confessed during interrogation to killing his brother with a hammer before fleeing with the victim’s mobile phone. Investigators also said he had called the Dial-112 emergency helpline himself to report the murder. Police said Manish told investigators he had faced prolonged neglect and humiliation at home, which, he claimed drove him to commit the crime. He was subsequently arrested and remanded to judicial custody.