Gwalior: As many as 70 people, who are currently in custody at the Gwalior Central Jail in Madhya Pradesh over their alleged links with the Vyapam scam, have written a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee requesting his permission to allow them to commit suicide.

Advocate Vinay Haswani, who represents some of these accused in court, showed a letter to media persons on Sunday that contained signatures of the 70 people accused in a case of irregularities in the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam).

The letter to the president says that the people were taken into custody and have been denied bail without assigning any reason.

The advocate said the detenus were getting depressed, and some of them were talking of committing suicide.

He said the accused have been in custody for over a year, and court proceedings have not begun against them till date.

(IANS)