Gujarat policewoman who confronted minister's son says she has resigned from service

Mumbai, Feb 10: Ankita Pisudde, a resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, was critical after sustaining 40% burns on February 3 when she was set afire, allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on her way to college.

The 25-year-old woman lecturer who was set on fire by a stalker in Maharashtra’s Wardha district last week died at a hospital in Nagpur on Monday morning, a police official said.

Ankita Pisudde, resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, had been critical after sustaining 35 to 40% “grade III” burns on February 3 when she was set afire allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on way to her college, they said.

She was undergoing treatment at the Orange City Hospital & Research Centre here, located around 75 km from Wardha.

“Doctors at the hospital declared her dead at 6.55 a.m. today,” Hinganghat’s police inspector Satyaveer Bandiwar said.

The woman sustained deep burn injuries on scalp, face, right upper limb, left hand, upper back, neck and eyes along with severe inhalational injuries, the hospital said in a medical bulletin on Monday.

She died of “septicemic shock” after suffering from deep dermal burns along with severe inhalational injuries, respiratory distress and related complications, it said.

Around 4 a.m. on Monday, her oxygen levels deteriorated inspite of ventilator support, coupled with decreasing urine output and reduction in blood pressure, the hospital said.

As part of immediate resuscitation measures, medicines were escalated to maintain the blood pressure and all feasible steps were taken to improve the oxygen levels in blood, but the patient remained “extremely critical”, it said.

“Around 6.30 a.m., she had bradycardia and inspite of prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the patient could not be revived and was declared dead at 6.55 a.m.,” it said.

The probable cause of death was “septicemic shock”, the bulletin added.

During her treatment, she underwent tracheostomy (creating an opening in neck to place a tube into the windpipe to allow air to enter the lungs), burn dressings, debridement and escharotomies, the hospital informed.

Debridement is a medical procedure to remove dead, damaged or infected tissue, while escharotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat full-thickness (third-degree) circumferential burns.

The woman’s parents and uncle were kept informed about her deteriorating health condition and death, the hospital said, adding that the body was later handed over to police for postmortem and other formalities.

After the woman’s condition deteriorated, the hospital informed about her critical status to Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Wardha Guardian Minister Sunil Kedar, Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, Police Commissioner Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar and Wardha Superintendent of Police Basavraj Teli.

Heavy security was deployed in Hinganghat to avoid any law and order problem following her death, the police said.

Several locals, mostly women and college students, took out a march in Wardha city last Thursday, demanding death penalty for the accused.

Home Minister Deshmukh visited the hospital on Tuesday and announced that the accused’s trial would be fast-tracked.

The State government last week flew Navi Mumbai-based National Burns Centre director Sunil Keswani to Nagpur to supervise the woman’s treatment.

It has also appointed well-known lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as special public prosecutor in the case.

According to the victim’s relatives, Nagrale, who was arrested within hours of the incident on February 3, had been harassing her for quite some time.

Nagrale and the woman were friends till two years ago when she severed ties with him due to his “irrational behaviour”, the police earlier said.

A special team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Trupti Jadhav will probe the case, the Wardha Police said last week.

New Delhi, Jan 6: A blind student who is pursuing research in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was also attacked by the mob that perpetrated violence in the University yesterday.

"I thought that the mob which came yesterday would disperse after raising a few slogans but they indulged in violence. They were targeting ABVP students. They beat me with sticks and rods. When I went to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, I came to know that there are many other injured students there," Surya Prakash, the blind student pursuing research in the University told ANI.

"I talked to my family members. They are really worried about the situation here. I qualified in the National Eligibility Test (NET) last year but I want to study and hence I am continuing research in JNU. How can we do anything in this atmosphere of fear? I am receiving calls from anonymous numbers threatening me not to come in front of the media. They are saying that as I am blind, I would become the face of this case," he added.

Another PhD student, Santosh Bhagat recounted his experience.

"In the evening at around 7 pm, many masked men entered the hostel. They had rods and sticks in their hands. We tried to go out but the attackers had entered the premises by then. I locked my room from inside but the attackers broke the door and entered my room and attacked me. They pushed me from the first floor and I fell down and sustained an injury. Later, I took shelter at one of the Professor's flat. Later, I was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Cantre," Bhagat said.

On Sunday evening, more than 30 students of the university, including JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh, were injured and were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.

The JNU administration and political leaders, cutting across political lines, condemned the attack on students and urged the police to take action against the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, the situation remained tense but peaceful outside JNU on Monday morning as the university guards maintained a strict vigil at the gate, checking I-cards of all those entering the university.

Warangal, May 26: A 26-year-old man from Bihar was arrested here for murdering nine people by throwing them into a well to cover the murder of a woman, police said on Monday.

Dr Ravinder, Commissioner of Police (CP), Warangal, said that the bodies were recovered on May 21 and May 22 from the well. Investigation has revealed that the accused, Sanjay Kumar Yadav, killed all of them to cover up the murder of Rafiqa, with whom he had a relationship.

He said that Yadav got acquainted with a person named Maqsood and his sister-in-law Rafiqa. "Slowly, he came close to Rafiqa and started living together with her three children. Yadav tried to misbehave with Rafiqa's 15-year-old daughter. Rafiqa did not like this and threatened to lodge a complaint against him," Ravinder said.

"Then, Yadav planned to kill Rafiqa in order to live with her daughter. Yadav promised Rafiqa to marry. They boarded a train to West Bengal from March 7. Yadav mixed sleeping tablets in the food packet and later strangulated her, and threw her body outside the train," he said.

According to police, Yadav later came back to Warangal but Maqsood's wife Nisha started questioning him about the whereabouts of Rafiqa.

"Nisha threatened to lodge a police complaint against him. With a premeditated motive, from May 16 to May 20, he visited Maqsood's family who stayed in a gunny bag factory," he said.

Yadav purchased sleeping pills from Warangal and mixed in the food on the birthday of Maqsood's elder son on May 20, police said.

"Maqsood and his five family members were living there. Yadav mixed sleeping pills in the food and later they consumed it. Maqsood's family friend Shakeel was also there. Then, he went to the first floor of the factory where two labourers were staying. He mixed sleeping pills in their food too. He suspected that they may get up and create a problem. To cover up the murder of Rafiqa, he killed nine people," Ravinder said.

At around 12:30 am, Yadav woke up and saw that everyone is asleep, according to police.

"Then, he used the gunny bags to drag all the nine people into the well. He threw the gunny bag one by one into the well," Ravinder said.

According to the police, six teams were deployed to investigate the case.

"Yadav has been arrested now and will be taken to police custody. We will collect all evidence and ensure that he gets maximum punishment for this offence," Ravinder said.