The Kengeri police resorted to a lathicharge against a group of family members and locals who had entered a hospital premises and damaged equipment on Wednesday afternoon. In the attack, five police constables escaped with minor injuries, and 12 people were arrested.
Ponnuswamy Shetty, was admitted to BGS Global Hospital near Uttarahalli on Tuesday night, after he tried to hang himself. Mahadeva Shetty, his father, in his statement given to the police, said Ponnuswamy had taken the extreme step after warning some of his friends by SMS. They then alerted his family, who found him hanging and unconscious. He was subsequently admitted to the hospital at around 1:30 am.
Ponnuswamy(24), a resident of Nayandahalli, is a driver by profession. He wanted to go on a trip with his friends and had asked his father for money. He was given `200 by his father and asked not to go on the trip. Upset over the refusal, he messaged all his friends and then proceeded to take his life.
BGS Hospitals allegedly announced his death at only around 12:30 pm on Wednesday, and asked the family to take his body for postmortem after taking their fees. When the family was taking him to KIMS hospital for postmortem, Ponnuswamy coughed on the way.
Angered over being ‘lied’ to by the hospital and paying the fees, the family returned to the hospital where the situation soon escalated out of control. Hospital authorities informed the police. The police were unable to control the crowd, and finally resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the gathering.
A senior police officer said, “Similar incidents are repeating in the hospital and fights have occurred many times before. In this case, the crowd tried to attack the police, and so we have registered a case in Kengeri Police Station.”
The Hospital’s Version
All hell broke loose when a 24-year-old man was brought to BGS Global Hospital for treatment. Ponnuswamy (24) the son of Mahadeva Shetty was brought to BGS Global Hospital in an unconscious state, after he attempted suicide at 1:35 am on Wednesday morning.
Soon, the patient was resuscited in the Emergency Department. Though the duration of the hanging was not known, the criticality of the patient was explained to the family members, claimed Sandhya Prasad the deputy general manager of BGS Hospital.
With the consent from his family Ponnuswamy was admitted to the Critical Care Unit. Sandhya said despite all medical measures taken, Ponnuswamy did not show any signs of improvement. His condition was regularly being updated to his family, also they were counselled by senior doctors under video survailance.
At around noon Ponnuswamy’s family members decided to get him discharged against medical advice, she claimed. As soon as Ponnuswamy was discharged and brought near the ambulance, the agitated family members drove away in the hospital ambulance with the patient. Sandhya further claimed that as soon as the ambulance was out of sight, the rest of the group who had accompanied Ponnuswamy’s family, turned violent. They started pelting stones, and hurting other patients.