N. Sanjay, IG, South Coastal Range, said here on Tuesday electronic surveillance on the mobile calls, transactions using credit cards besides a coordinated team work had helped the police pin down the doctor couple, V.A.A. Lakshmi and G. Vijaya Saradhi, named as accused in the case relating to the suicide of a PG medical student of the Guntur Medical College.
“The accused swiped their credit card to pay the hotel bills at Bengaluru on Saturday. The IT core team of Guntur Urban Police alerted us, and we took the help of Kotak Mahindra Bank to identify the location of the transaction. We also took the help of Karnataka police to find the location of the hotel and trace the accused,’’ said Mr. Sanjay.
The doctor couple had been on the move since October 25. “The duo visited 16 places across four States. They visited Puducherry, Chennai, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Shirdi, Shani Shingnapur, Sholapur, Kurnool and Anantapur before we pinned them down at Bengaluru. Our police teams were tracking them but the accused had managed to give the slip at the last minute. Using different sim cards and mobile phones, travelling in different cars and staying in cheap lodges, they got away from the police net. We also tracked 28 types of bills paid by the accused. We were always so close yet they managed to slip away,’’ said Mr. Sanjay.
Dr. Lakshmi and Dr. Vijaya Saradhi are well known as senior surgeons in the Government General Hospital. Dr. Saradhi is also vice-president of the AP Medical Council and has been running a de-addiction centre. But what has prompted the duo to flee from their home and evade arrest for 23 days?
“We had no intention of fleeing away but we have been misguided by some of our friends, including advocates, who convinced us that we would get bail. Once we decided to evade arrest, we kept on moving hoping that we will get bail,’’ said a visibly shaken Dr. Vijaya Saradhi. Their hopes of getting bail were dashed after a local court dismissed their plea on Friday. His wife and prime accused Dr. Lakshmi reiterated that she had done no wrong and refused to admit that she was responsible for the suicide of her student.
“There has never been any complaint of harassment during my 22 years of service. Dr. Rani was not interested in taking up DGO course and she could not cope up with the rigour of the course,’’ said Dr. Lakshmi.
