Two Tamil Nadu woodcutters died in suspicious conditions in sub-jails of Andhra Pradesh which has begun speculation if they were tortured to death.

Rathinam and Loganathan from Tiruvannamalai district and Vellore district in Tamil Nadu were arrested by Andhra Pradesh special task force in the case of murder of two forest officials two years ago, according to TOI report.

Rathinam had complained of stomach ache on November 11 and was treated at the jail dispensary. He was taken to a government general hospital and later to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) on November where he died. Following this allegations surfaced that the Rathinam was tortured.

Jail officials slammed all reports of torture and said that he died of natural causes. They also said that the jail department had also spent Rs. 2.5 lakhs for his treatment at a private hospital.

Loganathan complained of chest pain on November 13 and was taken to SVIMS where the doctor declared that he was brought dead. The jail officials claim that he died of cardiac arrest.

Rathinam was kept at the Srikalakasthi sub-jail and Logananthan was kept at the Tirupati sub-jail.

DMK president M Karunanidhi has asked the Tamil Nadu Government to get workers released from different jails in Tamil Nadu. He said that the Government should take strong initiatives for bringing the workers back only writing a letter won’t work.