A suspicion has been raised on the death of Veerappan's aide Simon, who had passed away recently in the Karnataka Prison. Simon belonged to Ottarthotti, near Kollekal in Karnataka state. He had been a close aide off veerappan, and was arrested in connection with the death of 22 policemen in landmine attack in 1993.
While initially Simon and 4 other accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, later the sentence was revised and changed to death sentence. After the revision of the sentence, human rights organizations had held widespread protests, and then, as a result, the death sentence was withdrawn, and life imprisonment sentence was continued.
In such situation, as Simon had been facing severe health issues with deteriorating health, his relatives had requested the Karnataka government to help him by providing treatment and facilities. However, the Karnataka government's refusal meant that without proper treatment, Simon passed away in the jail itself. Now, his sudden death has raised questions on whether he was tortured to death in the prison.
