The deceased, identified as Ravinder alias Arjun, a resident of Punjab, was arrested in a case of murder in West Delhi's Madipur. He was a standing outside his barrack in Jail number 1 around 6 pm when six inmates of another barrack, identified as Ajay Kumar, Ravi, Mukesh, Riyaz, Sushil and Vinod, attacked him.
The attackers used 'patti', sharp-edged weapons crafted from spoons and other utensils available in the prison. The incident took place in front of an unarmed warden Karamvir Kaushik.
At least five other prisoners who tried to intervene also sustained minor injuries in the incident.
Ravinder was rushed to the prison dispensary from where he was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where he died during treatment around 11:45 pm.
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According to sources in the prison, Mukesh, who is the leader of attackers, was tied in bitter turf war with Ravinder over supremacy in Tihar jail.
Tihar spokesperson Mukesh Prasad did not respond to repeated calls and SMSs.
"It happened due to a turf war between two groups of criminals in the jail. The accused have been taken into custody and investigations have been launched to establish the exact cause and circumstances which led to bloodbath within jail premises," said DCP (west) Pushpendra Kumar.
Sources also said that following the incident, Tihar administration has stopped providing metallic plates and spoon for eating to the inmates. Buckets are also made up of low quality plastic material, so that they cannot be used to hit somebody forcefully.