BELAGAVI: A day after Kagwad MLA Shrimant Patil went ‘missing’ from a resort in Bengaluru where Congress legislators are quarantined, his family members in Sangli, Maharashtra, clarified to Karnataka police that the MLA had to rush to Mumbai to undergo medical treatment.
While rubbishing speculation by several leaders in Karnataka that he had been kidnapped by BJP leaders, his wife Ujwala Patil told a team of police officers from Karnataka that the MLA went to Mumbai to meet doctors, and was never under pressure from any political party or leader.
According to Ujwala, her husband had to rush to Chennai from Bengaluru for some urgent work related to his business. Due to sudden chest pain, he decided to fly to Sanjeevani Hospital in Mumbai, where he is usually treated for heart-related ailments. Ujwala added that she was pained by the way a section of the media reported ‘unfair stories’ on his disappearance.
A team of police personnel, including Circle Police Inspector of Athani, H Shekharappa and Deputy SP Ramanna Basargi met Patil’s family at Sangli. According to sources, Maharashtra police beefed up security at Patil’s residence since Thursday.
It is said that Patil was keen to get admitted to St George Hospital in Mumbai. “I am not sure if there is a cardiac unit in the hospital, but I referred Patil’s case on the patient’s insistence, said Dr Satish Shah of Sanjeevani Hospital in Mumbai. He reportedly underwent an ECG test here.
Many leaders in Belagavi say Patil’s disappearance from Bengaluru is a conspiracy to support the BJP in Karnataka.