A 48-year-old man being held during his trial for insurance fraud hanged himself in his four-inmate police cell in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward earlier this month, police revealed Wednesday.
Police were also investigating the man for the murder of Takaaki Yushina, 40, in the Philippines July 2005 over insurance money.
One of his three cellmates found him alive, but unconscious, at about 7:40 p.m. on Aug. 13 in their cell, hanging from two handkerchiefs tied together, they said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.
Police said each inmate is given only one handkerchief, in order to prevent suicide attempts. The man had used his own and one from a cellmate, they said.
Police found no suicide note but said the man, who was not named, had told his cellmates he wanted to die.