In a bizarre incident, a prisoner lodged at Gwalior Central Jail cut off his penis and offered the organ to a shivlinga inside the jail premises on Tuesday morning. The inmate was later admitted to the district hospital and is stable now.

Gwalior Central Jail Superintendent Manoj Sahu told India Today that the inmate identified as Vishnu Singh was found bleeding at 6.30 am on Tuesday and was rushed to the civil hospital.

The inmate has been lodged at the Gwalior jail since 2018 after being convicted of murder. He is originally a resident of Umri village in neighbouring Bhind district. The jail superintendent said that the inmate used a spoon that he had sharpened and kept with him to use it as a scalpel.

The inmate told jail authorities that he had a dream in which Shiva asked him to sacrifice his penis after which he severed it.

Jail authorities are probing the incident to see if there is another angle to it including that of enmity between the inmates.

“There is a lot of superstition among a section of inmates which is responsible for such acts,” said Superintendent Manoj Sahu, while explaining the reason behind the inmate committing this act.

Of late, jails in Madhya Pradesh have witnessed an outbreak of coronavirus which has led to massive screening of inmates and suspension of meeting time between inmates and their relatives.