Indian citizen Sarabjit Singh, who is facing death penalty in Pakistan, slipped into coma after being attacked by a few inmates of Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, according to Press Trust of India.
"Doctors attending to Sarabjit Singh informed the Indian officials that he is in coma on ventilator and receiving IV drip," confirmed External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.
Sarabjit sustained severe head injuries when he was attacked by other inmates during a stroll on the jail premises. He was rushed to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.
It has been reported that Sarabjit's severe injuries and non-stop bleeding led to the postponement of the surgery. "No surgery can be performed till his condition stabilizes" an official source was quoted as saying by PTI.
Sarabjit's condition is rated 5 on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), implying critical state of the patient.
Meanwhile, Indian officials have met Sarabjit at the hospital and the Indian high commission has kept a constant tab on him via the medical team at the hospital.
The attackers beat Sarabjit "on the head with bricks and his face, neck and stomach were cut with blades and sharp pieces of a ghee tin." One of the attackers was identified as Amer Aftab.
The reports indicated that they had previously quarreled with Sarabjit a few days before the incident.
Sarabjit was sentenced to death for allegedly carrying out bomb attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province in 1990.
Indian authorities have been trying to get him released from the jail based on his family's claims that he was a target of mistaken identity and had strayed across the border unknowingly.
