Kerala - Alappuzha   

Doctor held on charge of taking bribe

ALAPPUZHA: The head of the Ophthalmology department of the T.D. Medical College, Vandanam, Mohammed Haneef, was arrested by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption force here on Monday on charges of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 500 from a patient.

According to Vigilance officials, Dr. Haneef had assured Anandavalli, a senior citizen hailing from a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family that he would cure her of cataract if she paid him an additional Rs.500 apart from the regular hospital expenses, which would have been Rs.150 since she was a BPL family member.

With the woman refusing and the doctor allegedly repeating his demand, the woman’s son complained to Vigilance officials, who laid a trap and caught the doctor red-handed as he accepted the bribe from Ms. Anandavalli at his residence here this morning.

The incident, however, has snowballed into a controversy, with the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association alleging that Dr. Haneef was trapped as part of a conspiracy by ‘certain quarters’.

The association has declared that doctors of the T.D. Medical College would stop private practice protesting the arrest.

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