Lucknow, July 17 - A murder convict serving life imprisonment in the Lucknow jail committed suicide by hanging himself in the prison premises Friday, police said.

Forty-five-year old Badri Prasad Tiwari was lodged in the Lucknow Model Jail since 2002 after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his step-mother.

'Tiwari committed the crime in 1998 and was sentenced in 2001. Since then, he was in Naini Central Jail of Allahabad and was shifted here in August 2002,' the jailor, V.K. Jain told IANS on phone.

Tiwari hung himself Friday afternoon in the printing press inside the jail where he was working, police said.

'He used gunny bags and some jute ropes and hung himself from the railing of the roof,' Jain said.

'The matter is being probed and we are trying to find the reason behind this extreme step,' he added.