BENGALURU: The whereabouts of Kampli MLA J N Ganesh, who is now in judicial custody, for three days has remained a mystery. But indications that he was not in either the jail ward of Victoria Hospital or its annexe for those three days until Thursday night became stronger on Friday morning when The New Indian Express visited the ward with permission from the hospital authorities.
TNIE in a front page article on Friday had reported that Ganesh was not in Parappana Agrahara Central Jail as he was shifted to Victoria Hospital about 10 days back after he complained of health complications. Nor was he in the jail ward of the government-run hospital. This paper has learnt from reliable hospital sources that Ganesh was brought to the annexe ward of the hospital late on Thursday night. Although hospital authorities kept insisting that Ganesh was not moved out of the wards, interaction with Ganesh,
after getting due permission from the hospital, indicated something else.
When TNIE asked Ganesh if it would worry him if someone had taken his pictures or videos when he was away, and handed them over to the opposition party as evidence of violating the judicial custody norms, he simply nodded and remained silent. Again, when questioned whether he realised the implications of the same evidence reaching the court — which has reserved an order on his bail plea — he again remained silent, wearing a worried look.
Ganesh has neither denied nor confirmed that he was not in the jail ward or its annexe for the three days till Thursday night.Security deployed at the hospital confirmed that he was not in its jail ward at least till 7.30 pm when their shift ended, but he was present inside the hospital’s annexe ward when they arrived on Friday morning.
Interestingly, on Wednesday and Thursday when TNIE visited the hospital, only two policemen were deployed, but on Friday morning a posse of four policemen was present, indicating the beefing up due to him being present.Also TNIE observed that Ganesh’s bag in the room where he lay was unopened with a set of clothes kept on another bed, indicating that he had just returned.
And despite the hospital doctors confirming that his ailments required strong medication for another four days, there were no medicines found in the room, nor was the IV set hanging by the bedside with a fresh bottle. A medical file kept on the bed, too, was said to be old, as confirmed by Ganesh.
Ganesh was brought to Victoria Hospital jail ward from Parappana Agrahara Central Jail after being diagnosed with hernia, infection of the urinary tract and chest, and depression. He was arrested last month following the alleged assault on his fellow MLA Anand Singh at a resort near Bidadi where all Congress MLAs were taken to prevent BJP from poaching them. He was suspended by the party following the allegations.