India PM Demands Justice from Pakistan over Jailed Spy's Death

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanded "justice" from Pakistan on Thursday following the overnight death of a jailed Indian spy who was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore last week.

"The criminals responsible for the barbaric and murderous attack on Sarabjit Singh must be brought to justice," he said on his official Twitter page.

The prime minister added that New Delhi would make the necessary arrangements to bring his body home for funeral rites, after earlier negotiations to treat the jailed spy in India or a third country failed.

Sarabjit Singh, who was convicted over deadly bombings in 1990, died at 1:00 am local time (2000 GMT Wednesday) after lying in a coma for the last five days, a senior doctor at Jinnah hospital in the Pakistani city of Lahore said.

The Indian prime minister said it was "particularly regrettable" that the Pakistani government had not responded to appeals "to take a humanitarian view of this case.”

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin called for Pakistan to conduct a probe into the assault on the 49-year-old, who suffered multiple injuries when six prisoners attacked him on April 26 in a Lahore jail.

"This was, put simply, the killing of our citizen while in the custody of Pakistan jail authorities," Akbaruddin told India's ANI news agency.

"The shocking attack highlights the need for concerted action by Pakistan to safeguard Indians in Pakistan prisons."

The prisoner's body has since been moved to the hospital mortuary and arrangements are under way for an autopsy, according to the doctor.