HYDERABAD: In a rare rescue attempt, the police coordinated with the media personnel to prevent the Gandhi Hospital doctor, Vasanth, from immolating himself after he faced allegations that he had bruited rumours of the spread of Coronavirus. This he had said was only a ruse by a section of doctors to settle past scores with him for revealing irregularities in the administration of the hospital.
The senior doctor from Gandhi Hospital threatened to commit suicide by dousing himself in petrol, claiming that senior officials and doctors at the hospital had been harassing him.
The rescue
The police, on reaching the spot and assessing the gravity of the situation, requested the media to form a human wall around the doctor and distract him with questions. For this, the 14-member team led by Chilkalguda Inspector A Balanagi Reddy has been awarded Rs 10,000 by Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar.
Inspector of Police AC Balagangi Reddy said, “When we reached the spot, we realised that the doctor had strapped himself with at least two bottles of petrol. There were no lids covering the bottles and his clothes were slowly getting soaked in petrol. He had also plastered a lighter to his wrist with some sort of adhesive tape. He held the lighter close to his body, threatening to burn himself”.
“This was a high-risk situation as there were patients and common people around. One small spark would have started a massive blaze. So we kept the firefighters on standby, along with four buckets of water, blankets and foam spray,” he said.
The Inspector further said, “We requested the mediapersons to surround him and ask him questions. Two mics were at a distance and two mics were in close proximity so that I could reach with the mics as camouflage, while the other two mics would distract him. Two ASIs were placed on his left side, while a constable and I were on the right side. The moment we saw a chance, we pounced on him and moved away his hand taped to a lighter from his body. We used the buckets of water and foam spray as a precaution”.
Allegations
Dr Vasanth has alleged that Dr P Shravan Kumar, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, and DME Dr K Ramesh Reddy have been targeting him for exposing administrative and treatment-related irregularities that have been taking place at the hospital