An inquest into the death of a man accused of murder who died in custody is set to begin today, February 27. A jury will be called for the eight-day inquest into the death of Jai Singh Puni, who had been charged with murdering his wife Sukhjeet Uppal, 40.
Singh, 50, died in hospital on Friday, January 28 2022, after suffering ‘catastrophic brain damage’ while in custody at A post-mortem found Singh had brain damage, multiple organ failure and suffered a cardiac arrest due to asphyxia.
said there were no suspicious circumstances around Singh’s death as his inquest was opened last year.
Singh was in custody after being charged with murdering his wife Sukhjeet Uppal, 40, who was repeatedly stabbed at their home in Tangmere Road, on Sunday, September 19 2021. She died at the scene.
An inquest held into Mrs Uppal’s death concluded she was unlawfully killed. Her medical cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
The inquest is set to take place at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court, in Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham.
Singh was unfit to stand trial, court told
A psychiatrist diagnosed Singh with schizophrenia and said “mental impairment was a factor in the offence he was charged with”. Dr Dinesh Maganty, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, was asked by Singh’s criminal defence team to conduct an examination.
He said Singh had a strong family history of mental illness. Dr Maganty said in his report after assessing Singh before his death: “He presents with auditory hallucinations, hearing voices when no one is around and what appear to be persecutory beliefs about his children.
“He would satisfy diagnosis criteria for schizophrenia with strong effective element. He is unfit to stand trial at the moment, he should improve with treatment. “Mental impairment was a factor in the offence he was charged with.”A round-up of the inquest so far
A prisoner awaiting trial accused of murdering his wife was “hearing voices and diagnosed schizophrenic” before his death in custody, an inquest has heard.
Jai Singh Puni was in custody at HMP Birmingham charged with the murder of his wife Sukhjeet Uppal, 40, when he was rushed to hospital and later died.
The 50-year-old had been found in his cell with an item over his head on January 27, 2022, and died at City Hospital just after midnight the next day. A post-mortem found Singh had brain damage, multiple organ failure and suffered a cardiac arrest due to asphyxia.