HYDERABAD/ HANAMKOND: A day after a first-year PG medical student attempted suicide in Warangal, Matewada police took the senior accused of harassing her into custody. Sources said the cops arrived at the hostel of Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in the wee hours of Thursday and took the accused, Saif, who is a second-year PG student, into custody.
The victim, Dharavathi Preethi, 26, is currently in critical condition at Nizam’s Institute Of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad. Police have sealed the hospital staff room. Warangal ACP Bonala Kishan said that they are trying to identify the drug that she injected herself with on Wednesday.
Warangal Commissioner of Police (CP) AV Ranganath told TNIE that they have also confiscated the mobile phones of the two students after reports of the senior students commenting on her language came to light.
As per the police, Saif had posted a few messages on the students’ WhatsApp group commenting on the care sheets prepared by Preethi during duty hours at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital in Warangal. He criticised her language and writing style in the messages, the CP added.
According to a release by NIMS, “Preethi continues to be critical and all efforts are being made to maintain her vitals function under close supervision of the multi-disciplinary team of specialist doctors.”
V Chandrashekar, MGM Hospital superintendent, said Preethi had a heart attack while she was being treated in Warangal and once while she was being taken to Hyderabad. Preethi suffered from multi-organ failure and was moved from MGM Hospital to NIMS on Wednesday.
While Preethi’s father, Narender, maintains that Preethi was ragged by her seniors and is demanding a proper investigation, the Director of Medical Education, Ramesh Reddy, rejects the claim but asserted that the probe will bring the truth to light.
Earlier, Narender, who works with Railway police, had said that Preethi was forced to attempt suicide due to the constant harassment by her seniors, who were pressurising her to work extra and making fun of her reports in WhatsApp groups. He also claims that she was being treated properly in Warangal but the administration moved her to Hyderabad to prevent the incident from becoming a big issue.
“My daughter was intentionally moved to Hyderabad where she is not receiving the correct treatment,” he alleged, adding that the doctors were refusing to share her status with him.
He added that he had sent a message to Warangal ACP Bonnala Kishan after speaking to Preethi on Monday night regarding Saif. Hinting at a conspiracy to bury the case, Narender said Preethi’s phone will have evidence of the harassment by Saif but fears that all of it will be deleted.
Preethi’s uncle claims she was moved to Hyderabad to avoid a commotion and predicted that she will be announced dead at night to prevent backlash. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan visited NIMS on Thursday. Later, she took to Twitter to announce, “Worrying incidence. Enquired with Vice-Chancellor of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences regarding her health condition in NIMS Hyderabad (sic).”
Health Minister T Harish Rao termed the incident unfortunate. He, however, stressed that a free and fair investigation into the matter will be conducted and action will be taken against the person responsible. A team of doctors have been advised to carry out monitoring, he added. He mentioned that he has been in contact with her family and assured them of support from the government.