Doctor-sweeper duo arrested for raping dengue patient in ICU

Ahmedabad, Sep 9: A doctor and a sweeper of Apollo Hospital in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat have been arrested in connection with the rape of a 19-year-old dengue patient who was admitted in the ICU for treatment, police said today.

Both the accused --Dr Ramesh Chauhan and sweeper Chandrakant Vankar--from Apollo Hospital, located at Bhat village in Gandhinagar were arrested yesterday.

"We have arrested Chauhan and Vankar on the charges of rape. The girl alleged that both of them took turns to rape her on the night of Saturday and Sunday at the hospital where she was undergoing treatment for dengue," said Adalaj police inspector A K Pandya.

The duo has been remanded to police custody by a local court till tomorrow. The girl was raped in the ICU unit of the hospital, where authorities do not allow relatives of the patient to stay back in the night.

On September 7, the girl had lodged a complaint with Adalaj police alleging that she was raped by the hospital sweeper, whom she identified as Chandu, besides a doctor, whom she could recognise by his face. Based on the complaint, police had lodged a case under section 376 (C)(D) of the Indian Penal Code for rape and subsequently arrested Vankar and Chauhan, said Pandya.

Apollo Hospital said that they are cooperating fully with the police in investigation. "The ward where the incident took place has 14 staff working round-the-clock, and is equipped with CCTV cameras. We are co-operating fully with the police which is examining CCTV footages and carrying out the investigations," said a statement issued by the hospital.