A week after battling for life in Pakistan's Jinnah Hospital, Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh slipped into an 'irreversible coma' and died early Thursday.
The 49-year-old passed away at 12:45 am. An autopsy may be conducted on Friday, reported NDTV.
"I received a call from the doctor on duty (at Jinnah Hospital) at 1 am (1:30 IST) informing me that Sarabjit is no more," Dr Mahmood Shaukat told PTI.
Another doctor treating Sarabjit said he collapsed due to a cardiac arrest and attempts to revive him proved futile.
Sarabjit was admitted to the hospital on 26 April following a brutal assault by inmates in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail. He sustained several injuries, including serious blows to the skull.
Recent reports said that Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal will meet the Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province to discuss the return of Sarabjit's body to India. The body is expected to flown in a special helicopter to his family for the final rites.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lamented Sarabjit's death saying, "Pakistan did not heed pleas of India and Sarabjit's family for taking a humanitarian view in this case."
Sarabjit was a death-row convict charged with the killing of 14 people in the 1990 bomb blasts in Pakistan.
His wife and two daughters, Poonam and Swapandeep, had returned to India on Wednesday after visiting him in the hospital. The aggrieved family had been seeking justice for years insisting on his innocence and that he had wandered off to the other side in an inebriated state.
So far, no action has been taken against jail securities for failing to protect Sarabjit in jail. Two inmates - Amir Aftab and Mudassar - have been booked for the assault.
