20-yr-old Indian on hunger strike in Austria dies

London, Sept 14 (PTI) A 20-year-old Indian asylum
seeker in Austria, who had been on a hunger strike since
August 7 to protest his imminent expulsion, died Monday in a
Vienna detention centre, police said.

Gaganpreet Singh, who had been in preventive detention
since August 4 and was refusing to eat since August 7, died at
the Vienna-Hernals police centre, they said.

Police said an initial investigation had shown no
visible connection between the hunger strike and Singh's
death, the Austrian Times reported.

In a statement, Vienna police said that it had called
for an autopsy of Singh to establish the exact cause of death.
The results were not yet available.

Earlier, a doctor who examined him Sunday said that
Singh did not require a transfer to hospital and could remain
in the detention centre.

A guard called in doctors this morning after he was
unable to wake the man but they were unable to help him as he
was already dead, the paper reported.

Interior Minister Maria Fekter has regretted Singh's
death.

Fekter said that Austrian law did not allow forced
feeding of people on hunger strikes. She said doctors had
constantly evaluated his health during the hunger strike, the
newspaper reported. PTI ZH
DDC