According to jail authorities, the incident occurred at around 6.45 pm when Mahanand, while walking inside the jail campus, reached a peepal tree and fashioned a noose using a gamchha before hanging himself from a branch. On-duty guards noticed the act and immediately brought him down. He was reportedly alive at the time and was rushed to Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital (Mekahara), but died before reaching the hospital.

Jail officials said the entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed inside the prison, which shows the inmate hanging himself. Based on preliminary evidence, police are treating the case as a suicide.

Following the incident, Mahanand’s family alleged that he was subjected to continuous mental and physical harassment inside the jail. His wife, Lalita Mahanand, reportedly collapsed after being informed of her husband’s death. Family members, members of the local community, and Congress leaders staged a sit-in protest outside the jail premises, raising slogans against the police and prison administration and demanding action against the jailer.

The family further alleged that the prison authorities sent the body to the mortuary without informing them and that they were notified of the incident late at night. “Had we been informed on time, we could have reached the jail,” relatives claimed, accusing the administration of deliberately delaying information.

Relatives also alleged that Mahanand had repeatedly complained of harassment during jail visits. They claimed his clothes, food items, and personal belongings were taken away and that money sent to him through digital payment platforms was not handed over.