New Delhi:
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi today met the distraught family of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian prisoner who died at a hospital in Pakistan early this morning, six days after he was brutally attacked by a group of inmates in jail.
During the meeting that lasted for nearly an hour, Mr Gandhi reportedly got very emotional. He was seen hugging Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur in pictures captured by the media. He reportedly also broke down while talking to her.
Sarabjit's wife Sukhpreet Kaur and daughters Poonam and Swapandeep were also present during the meeting.
The family has reached Amritsar now to receive Sarabjit's body. After their return from Pakistan yesterday, they had accused the government of not doing enough to help Sarabjit.
Sarabjit had been in jail for the last 22 years after being convicted of terrorism charges. He was given the death sentence in 1991 for bombings a year earlier in Lahore and Multan in which 14 people were killed. His family says this conviction was a case of mistaken identity.
He died at Lahore's Jinnah hospital at 12.45 am today. He was admitted there on Friday.