Soopramanien Candasawmy, aged 30, arrested on a charge of drug trafficking, hanged himself in his cell at the Curepipe police station late on Monday afternoon, April 22. The Mahebourg resident had been arrested by members of the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (Adsu). An autopsy performed on his body at the Victoria Hospital morgue in Candos attributed his death to asphyxia due to hanging.
In a statement made at the Curepipe police station by Sergeant Sambiah, the latter said that at around 5.10pm on Monday April 22 he was called by a policeman assigned as cell sentry to go to a bathroom there. Inmate Soopramanien Candasawmy hung himself from a metal door with his long-sleeved pale blue shirt, which was attached to the metal door of this bathroom and the other end to his neck.
First aid was immediately administered to this inmate by this sentry, who also checked his pulse, but he was unresponsive. An ambulance from the Service d’Aide Médicale d’Urgence was called to the Curepipe police station, but unfortunately the doctor on board was only able to certify his death at 5:48 pm. His body was subsequently transported to the Candos hospital morgue on the instructions of Dr Prem Chamane, Principal Police Medical Officer.
An investigation has been launched to shed light on the circumstances of this tragedy.
