Indrani Mukerjea is among 200 women accused of instigating a riot after a woman prisoner died.
A postmortem examination has failed to establish that a woman prisoner who was beaten to death in Mumbai's Byculla jail last week, was also violated with a wooden stick. The report, police said, maintains that Manjula Sheyte sustained fatal injuries on her skull and other parts of the body.
Ms Sheyte, whose death had triggered a riot in the jail on Saturday, was allegedly viciously beaten by jail officials. A police case was also filed on basis of a fellow prisoner's allegation that the jail officials had inserted a wooden stick in her private parts. She was declared dead when she arrived at the hospital.
The prisoner, who was in her 40s, was beaten up after she was questioned about a two eggs and vada pav that went missing when food was being distributed to the prisoners.
Six jail officials were suspended after Saturday's riot. The accused official - Manisha Pokharkar, who heads the women's section of the jail - is also among them. The police have filed a murder case against them.
Among the inmates who alleged that the woman was beaten and tortured is Indrani Mukerjea, the 44-year-old former media entrepreneur, who is jail on charge of murdering her daughter. Appearing before a Mumbai court yesterday, Ms Mukerjea had said she and the other inmates had watched through a hole in a door where Ms Sheyte was beaten and later dragged with a saree around her neck.
Today, a team from Maharashtra's women's commission landed at the Jail to independently investigate Ms Sheyte's death.
"We have decided to setup an Special Investigation team which will look into the matter very closely, and then give us a detailed report," said Vijaya Rahatkar the chief of the women's Commission.