Prof accused of abetting medico’s suicide held
GUNTUR: In a major breakthrough in the investigation of suicide by post-graduate medical student Dr B Sandhya Rani, a special police team on Monday arrested gynaecology professor Dr VAA Lakshmi, who is accused of harassing the girl, and her husband Dr G Parthasarthy in Bengaluru.
Confirming the development, Guntur additional superintendent of police J Bhaskara Rao said, “We have arrested her and her husband. I cannot give you any more details.” The doctor-couple are expected to be brought to Guntur on Tuesday.
Dr Sandhya Rani had injected herself with a high dose of anaesthesia on Oct 22 and was found unconscious at her residence in Kannavarithota in Guntur. She was rushed to a hospital where she breathed her last a couple of days later. Prof Lakshmi and her husband had been on the run ever since. The police have registered a case against Prof Lakshmi under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC.
Sources told Express that the professor and her husband first went to Mumbai by catching a flight in Hyderabad and from there, drove to Puducherry in a car provided by a realtor known to the family. When a special police team was making inquiries about her in Puducherry, she and her husband left for Bengaluru where they were finally caught.
In her diary, Dr Sandhya Rani blamed Prof Lakshmi for her death and wanted her dismissed from service. She accused the professor of harassing and humiliating her time and again. Sandhya Rani’s husband, Ch Ravi, a registered medical practitioner in Nalgonda district, Telangana, too attempted suicide following his wife’s death, shaking the conscience of the state. He is at present out of danger. There are allegations that Prof Lakshmi bore a grudge against Sandhya Rani as she had secured the PG seat while her daughter, a classmate of her student in MBBS, could not.
According to sources close to Prof Lakshmi, the doctor-couple had already decided to give themselves up before the police zeroed in on them following a tip-off. They were left with no option after her anticipatory bail was rejected and the police intensified questioning of her daughter Satwika and son Bhargav, both medical students, one at Vijayawada and the other at Puducherry and also their relatives. The police, smarting under allegations of deliberate inaction, had formed seven teams and sent them to different states to nab the fugitives.
After hearing the news of the arrest of Laskhmi, Sandhay Rani’s mother Prameela said, “Lakshmi acted like a psycho. I wish no student would undergo the kind of torture my daughter did. Professors like Lakshmi should get severe punishment to act as a deterrent in future. Both Telangana and AP police should keep a watch on such professors.” Sandhya Rani’s brother Ravi said, “This kind of torture should not be allowed in medical colleges.” Meanwhile, the IMA’s AP in-charge secretary MA Rahman clarified that action against Dr Lakshmi and her husband should be taken by state government. “IMA will not interfere in the matter nor can it initiate any action against them,” he said.