KALABURAGI: "That is all in the past, I have learnt much in the jail for 14 years and from tomorrow onwards, my new life starts with giving free treatment to the needy", this is how Subhash Patil who was convicted for life term along with his the then lover and now wife Padmavati on the charges of killing a contractor narrates his future plans in an exclusive interview with Express.
Subhash and Padmavati were arrested in the year 2002 on the charges of killing a contractor who was the husband of Padmavati at Bengaluru. At that time Subhash who is a native of Kalaburagi was a second-year MBBS student in Bengaluru. He fell in love with Padmavati and the duo plotted and killed the contractor. In 2006, a court convicted both of them to life imprisonment and sent to Parappana Agrahara jail until being shifted to Kalaburagi Central Jail in 2009.
They completed their 14 years of life imprisonment in 2016 and got married. Subhash who stopped his MBBS study in the mid-way resumed his third-year MBBS study within a few months of his release and completed the course in February 2019.
"I can't tell what made me go to jail, but I learnt many things in 14 years I spent there. The jail taught me to have patience which would help in many ways. My second-year results were declared when I was in there and I failed in 2 subjects. As it was difficult to continue MBBS education from prison, I discontinued the course and did a Diploma in Journalism and got my certificate in 2007 from Mysore Open University. I completed my MA in Journalism from the same varsity in 2010 and so did my wife," said 40-year-old Subhash.
"While serving our term, the prison staff, senior officers and inmates treated us as friends and helped in all manners possible. But our relatives and friends didn't show the same affection. Many illiterate under-trials and convicts learnt letters and some even passed graduation with my help," Subhash recalled.
Subhash said he is grateful to his father for his support. "He stood behind me like a pillar and motivated me to continue my MBBS. Senior Congress leader Dharm Singh also helped me in resuming the course. It was after great struggle that I completed the course in 2019 and internship on 15 February 2020.
"The relatives and friends who maintained a distance with me till 2019, have started coming to me now and now I am a happy man," said Subhash Patil.
Subhash says that his first priority is to search for a job and simultaneously he would start his medical practice. Soldiers, police personnel and prisoners would get free treatment from him, Subhash says.
