Chennai: A 29-year-old prisoner, who was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Feb 13, collapsed inside the remand prisoners’ block at Puzhal Central Jail on Wednesday, and died at Govt Stanley Hospital on Thursday. He was put on a ventilator at the ICU, but succumbed at 4pm on Thursday.His family accused police of obtaining a false medical fitness certificate before remanding him in the Puzhal prison, despite his complaints of illness on Feb 13.Punithan Mahimai Das, alias Kelvin, of Thiruneermalai Road near Tambaram, was arrested by the Shankar Nagar police on Feb 13 following a court-issued arrest warrant for failing to appear in a robbery case registered in 2020.His family members said Punithan could not appear in court for the past few months due to a death in the family. When police came to arrest him on Feb 13, the family informed them he had been complaining about an intestinal obstruction and requested that they take him to hospital for examination first. The relatives claimed that when police took him to a govt hospital, doctors said he had a medical condition and should be treated. However, police obtained a fitness certificate from another doctor and remanded him in prison despite his health condition.
