GUWAHATI: After three days of intense grilling, Guwahati doctor Navnil Barua, who had allegedly helped a model evade the police by admitting her to the ICU of a private hospital, was arrested on Sunday.
Earlier, a six-member medical board had found that the condition of the model, Rajkanya Baruah, was not so bad that she had to be admitted to the ICU. Subsequently, she was arrested by the police. She is now in judicial custody.
Rajkanya, who was a contestant of the 2016 Femina Miss India, had knocked down eight labourers with her car on the night of October 1 while driving home from a five-star hotel, reportedly after attending a birthday party. The legs of one of the injured had to be amputated.
The incident had triggered a public outrage when the model managed to get bail in less than 24 hours of the incident due to faulty probe by the police, prompting Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to say the bail granted to her did not mean the closure of the case.
Soon, two police officers were 'reserved' for a faulty investigation into the case, followed by summons sent to the model seeking her appearance. However, her family had written to the police seeking time and cited her poor health conditions.
Director-General of Police, Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta was livid over the manner in which the case was handled by the police. He admitted to lapses at the initial stage of probe.
Talking about his phone conversation with the doctor, Mahanta said, “He had told me the woman has suicidal tendency and as such, if she is arrested, we should take the precautions. I said that will be taken care of”.