The city police on Wednesday arrested eight youth in connection with the assault and murder bid on a doctor that occurred at King George Hospital on Tuesday.
The accused were identified as E. Vinay Kumar (21), A. Lokesh (22), A. Rajesh (21), E. Bhaskar (23), K. Ramesh (20), L. Lokeswara Rao (21), N. Naveen (23), and D. Bhaskar alias Chinna Basha (20), all belonging to various parts of the city.
Addressing a press conference here in the city on Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Harbour sub-division) Sireesha said that all the accused were reportedly in a drunken state and allegedly attacked junior doctor Dr. C. Sridatha Prasad Reddy (29), a second-year post graduate at the mortuary hall in King George Hospital (KGH).
The accused reportedly attacked the doctor with sharp blades with an intention to kill him. Dr. Prasad received severe bleeding injuries. This is an assault-cum-attempt to murder on a public servant, police said.
According to One Town police station Inspector Venkata Narayana, it was found that the accused had attacked the doctor after he refused their demand to not conduct a post-mortem on their deceased family member.
“Attacks on frontline warriors who have been serving people during this pandemic is totally unacceptable. People involved in such crimes will be punished strictly as per law,” said ACP Sireesha.
AP Junior Doctor’s Association (AP JUDA) representatives said Dr. Prasad Reddy, a post-graduate student of forensic medicine, was on duty at the mortuary at KGH at around 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Twelve persons gained entry into the mortuary by jostling with the security guards and then assaulted Dr. Reddy, who was conducting an autopsy of another body.
Dr. Reddy suffered bleeding injuries on his face, nose, right eye and other parts of his body.
“The students demand arrest of all the 12 accused, failing which they refused to attend to their duties. I appealed to the students to rejoin duties as the remaining persons would also be arrested by the police,” Dr. Mythili, Superintendent, told The Hindu on Tuesday evening.
