Assam doctor death: 'Murderer' appointed without police verification

May 10, 2014

Dibrugarh, May 11(TNN): The ward boy accused of murdering Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) post-graduate student Sarita Toshniwal was appointed by the hospital authorities without police verification, revealed an investigation.

Police officers investigating the case said Kiru Mech, the murder accused, was appointed about eight months ago without even a minimum background check that led to Toshniwal's gruesome murder.

Mech, a known criminal, was arrested on charges of theft a couple of years ago. He hailed from Chiringhola village near Lahowal in Dibrugarh district and used to stay at his father-in-law's house in Bongaigaon, located just behind the AMCH campus.

"During investigation, it came to light that the murder accused was appointed as a ward boy by the AMCH authorities on a temporary basis about 8 months ago on a monthly remuneration of Rs 2,000. He was a criminal. In spite of this, they appointed him without a police verification despite the sensitiveness of his job. The error proved costly," said Naba Kumar Bora, the OC of Dibrugarh police station, on Saturday.

The police on Saturday morning recovered Sarita's missing mobile phone from the house of Manikanta Chutiya, the father-in-law of the accused.

"He (Kiru Mech) led us to his father-in-law's place and showed us the mobile phone which he had hidden there. He had taken her mobile phone after committing the murder. The accused in his statement has disclosed that he had tried to force himself on her. When she resisted his advances, he first gagged her and then killed her with a knife for fear of disclosure," added Bora.

The accused was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Dibrugarh, which remanded him in 5 days police custody.

On the other hand, the junior doctors of the college on Saturday burnt the effigy of the principal, vice-principal and the superintendent of AMCH and demanded their resignation for their failure to ensure the security of doctors inside the campus. For the second consecutive day, healthcare service was

disrupted at the AMCH as doctors refrained from duty. The agitating doctors, who threatened to go on an indefinite strike, demanded deployment of armed security personnel on the medical college campus, installation of CCTVs and immediate implementation of the Doctors' Protection Act.

Parliamentary secretary (Home) Etwa Munda, who visited the AMCH on Saturday, stated that strong measures will be taken to ensure the safety of doctors.

Members of the All Assam Students' Union staged a 2-hour sit-in in protest against the gruesome murder. The protesters demanded stringent punishment for the guilty and urged the government to ensure the safety of doctors and medical students. A candle light march was taken out in the town by various organizations, seeking justice for the victim.

In Sivasagar, the victim's hometown, business establishments downed shutters from 6 am to 12 pm as a mark of respect. A sea of humanity was witnessed at the victim's home in the Amolapatty area of the town since morning.

The doctor's last rites were conducted later in the day.

Earlier:

Junior doctor murdered in Assam medical college allegedly by ward boy

Guwahati, May 10: A junior woman doctor undergoing post-graduation at the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh was murdered at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the oldest healthcare institute in the northeast on Friday, possibly after a failed rape attempt.

Police have arrested the ward boy of the ICU with scratches on his face, raising suspicion that he could have attempted to outrage the modesty of 24-year-old Sarita Tashniwal before driving a surgical knife through her neck.

Doctor_murderedThe incident brought back memories of the tragic Aruna Shaunbagh case of 1973 when the junior nurse was sexually assaulted by a ward boy at a Mumbai hospital. The victim has been in a vegetative state since the incident when the rapist tried to kill her by wrapping an iron chain around her neck.

The marriage of Sarita – pursuing her MD course in obstetrics and gynaecology – was fixed for July 7 with a fellow-doctor Roshan Agarwal, who is also undergoing his PG course at the AMCH.

Sarita hailed from neighbouring Sivasagar district. Dibrugarh is 470 km east of capital Guwahati.

Sarita's mother is in Rajasthan – the ancestral state of the family – for marriage shopping, a family source in Sivasagar said.

Dibrugarh superintendent of police Rana Bhuyan said that the accused Tiru Mech confessed to killing Sarita after she allegedly misbehaved with him.

"He also claimed to have been disturbed for some family reasons but we are looking at all angles," Bhuyan added.

Sarita's body was discovered by nurses in a pool of blood at the ICU bed, which is adjacent to the doctors' rest room, at around 8 am in the morning.

Police said Sarita had gone for rest at the doctors' room at around 5am. She was on duty since 10 pm last night.

After interrogating four people, including Sarita's colleagues, police arrested the ward boy.

A police official part of the investigating team said there are "fresh injury marks" on the face of Mech.

"It could be that before stabbing her, Tiru tried to outrage Sarita's modesty and she resisted resulting in his injuries," the official added.

Police are also investigating whether there were any other people involved in the murder.

Police have also collected footage of CCTV cameras installed in the medical college.

Meanwhile, junior doctors at the Assam Medical College and Hospital launched an indefinite ceasework, demanding proper security arrangement in the institute. The junior doctors demonstrated in front of the institute shouting slogans demanding justice to the victim.

The agitating doctors also submitted a memorandum to the AMCH management and Dibrugarh district administration.

Expressing sorrow over the incident, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi asked police to "quickly probe" the cold-blooded murder and also ordered enhanced security in and around the AMCH premises.

Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was likely to visit AMCH to take stock of the situation.

The AMCH is one of the oldest medical institutes in eastern India, set up by British philanthropist Sir John Berry White, a retired brigadier of the British Army.

It was earlier known as the Berry White Medical School.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 20,2020

Ahmedabad, Jan 20: Cops in Gandhinagar fell in a catch-22 situation when a state government employee approached them with a complaint that the 26-year-old woman class teacher of his 14-year-old son had gone missing taking his son in tow. The man, who works at Udyog Bhavan in Gandhinagar said the woman had seduced his teenage son, who studies in class VIII and taken him away with her. The boy had gone missing from 4pm on Friday, and the classteacher was also missing.

A police official said the woman teacher had been too intimate with the allegedly missing boy for around a year, and the school authorities had recently rebuked them. “As their relationship was unaccepted, they left their homes on Friday,” he said. It was rare to find a case of a woman teacher eloping with her teenage student, the official added.

An FIR for elopement under Section 363 IPC has been registered with Kalol city police in Gandhinagar district. The complaint stated the teacher is a resident of Darbari chawl in Kalol town.

“When I reached home at around 7pm, I found my son missing. My wife told me he had left home at around 4pm. We searched for him in the neighbourhood and among relatives, but couldn’t trace him,” claims the teenage boy’s father in the FIR. “I went to the teacher’s house but they were not there,” the man stated.

Inspector K K Desai of Kalol city police said the missing duo could not be traced as they were not carrying cellphones.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: A 23-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide at the AIIMS here after her mother died of cancer at the hospital, police said on Saturday.

She was reported missing after her mother passed away on Wednesday and her body was found near the new private ward block of the hospital on Saturday, they said, adding that she fell to her death from a building.

"Her mother was a cancer patient. She was being treated at the hospital and had died during treatment on Wednesday," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

Her father was busy in the formalities when she left the area. She was reported missing since Wednesday. The family hails from Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer said.

Hospital staff noticed the body and informed the police. The block was closed due to which nobody found out about it earlier, police said.

Police said she had called her friends and told them that she was going to kill herself. The body has been recovered and an inquest proceeding is underway.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 10,2020

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.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.