India demands justice as Sarabjit Singh dies in Pakistan

LAHORE: An Indian man on death row in Pakistan for espionage died Thursday after being attacked by fellow inmates, drawing criticism from India's premier who called for justice in the "barbaric" case.

Sarabjit Singh, who was sentenced 16 years ago over deadly bombings, died in the early hours of Thursday from injuries suffered in last week's attack, a senior doctor at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore told.

"The criminals responsible for the barbaric and murderous attack on Sarabjit Singh must be brought to justice," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on his official Twitter page.

India has complained that its diplomats were denied access to the prisoner as he fought for his life, and the premier said it was "particularly regrettable" that Pakistan had not responded to appeals "to take a humanitarian view of this case".

The prime minister added that New Delhi would make the necessary arrangements to bring his body home for funeral rites, after earlier negotiations to treat the jailed spy in India or a third country failed.

Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh confirmed the 49-year-old's death and said his body had been moved to the hospital mortuary. The doctor at Jinnah Hospital said arrangements were under way for an autopsy.

Singh went into a coma after suffering multiple serious injuries when six prisoners attacked him on April 26 at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail, hitting him on the head with bricks and fracturing his skull.

"His condition was more than critical and he had (little) chance of survival," Sheikh told.

Singh was convicted for his alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990. His mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and former president Pervez Musharraf.

His family insisted he was merely a farmer who became a victim of mistaken identity after inadvertently straying across the border while drunk.

India's foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin called for Pakistan to conduct an investigation into the prison attack.

Four members of Singh's family -- his wife, two daughters and his sister -- who travelled to Lahore on Tuesday have since returned to India.