Chinese nat’l who attemptedsuicide in Muz prison dies

Patna: Chinese citizen, Li Jiaqi (63), from Shandong province of the country, died on Tuesday morning while undergoing treatment at SKMCH in Muzaffarpur district, after he allegedly attempted suicide at Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail in the district on June 9.
Confirming the death, Muzaffarpur SSP in-charge Awadhesh Dixit told TOI that the Chinese national had tried to commit suicide in the jail’s toilet by cutting his wrist, throat and private parts by the glass of his specs.“The reason behind taking such extreme step is not clear yet. The police are trying to gather details about his family. We have also informed all security agencies and embassies, but nothing has been found about him,” he said.
He added that the identity card which the police had found from him had limited information—just having his name, address and province.
Jiaqi was accused of illegally entering India from Birgunj in Nepal via Motihari without any valid travel documents and visa. Muzaffarpur police had arrested him on June 6 near Laxmi Chowk under Brahmapura police station area.
After the arrest, the police found a map of China, a cellphone, three small stone statues, passport, identity card and currencies of China, Nepal and India from his possession. He was booked under the relevant sections of The Foreigners Act, 1946, and was put in the prison.
Dixit said since it was a case of ‘death in custody’. “His postmortem will be conducted and photography done, for which a medical board is being constituted. The inquest and postmortem process will be done in the presence of a magistrate,” he said.
Dr Kumari Vibha, superintendent of SKMCH said that a doctor, who had studied in China and was doing an externship at the SKMCH, had talked to Jiaqi. “He told the doctor that his life was in danger in his country, so he fled to Nepal and then reached India. We feel that he was mentally ill. He had completely damaged his private parts and made deep cuts on different parts of his body,” she told TOI over the phone.