Nashik: In a gruesome incident, a Nashik-based Pulmonologist Dr Kailash Rathi, is fighting for his life in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after being brutally attacked inside a hospital in Maharashtra over a monetary dispute.
The horror was captured on a CCTV camera and the viral video shows that the attacker striked the 49-year-old doctor around 18 times with a sickle on Friday night. Thereafter, the doctor, a chest physician and critical care specialist, was admitted in a local hospital in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, the Panchavati police have arrested the accused Rajendra More on Saturday evening and secured seven days of custody after producing him in a city court on Sunday. The accused and his wife, who is a former colleague of the doctor, have been booked by police based on a complaint of the victim's wife.
Police have registered a case under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (common intention), and other sections of the Indian Arms Act, adds TOI.
"The husband of one of the victim’s former employees has been arrested for the attack. The woman was accused of misappropriating Rs 6 lakh when she worked in his hospital. She was sacked and reinstated some years later. She again took Rs 12 lakh from him but refused to pay it back," a police official told PTI on Sunday.
Also Read: Batinda: Medical Officer on emergency duty manhandled by patient's kin
The Indian Medical Association cancelled its protest march on Saturday after one arrest was made in the case, functionaries said.
As portrayed in the CCTV video, the doctor was talking on his phone and he seemed to be oblivious of the man standing next to him. Then the man standing next to him started attacking him with a sickle and continued striking him even after he stopped moving.
The latest media report by the Times of India adds that the victim doctor, a chest physician and critical care specialist, suffered multiple injuries on his head, neck and other parts of the body. Doctors in the hospital where the victim was admitted had informed the Daily that he was in the ICU in critical condition.
Commenting on the matter, the Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik told TOI, "The attack was a fallout of some personal disputes. More's wife used to work in Dr Rathi's clinic in the past. The police will interrogate More to ascertain the motive of the attack."
TOI adds that the accused's wife stopped working at the victim doctor's clinic a few years ago. She and her husband took some money from the doctor over a property deal. A senior police officer informed that the victim doctor was after the accused to return the money.
The accused came to the doctor's clinic at Dindori Naka around 9.30 PM on Friday and followed the doctor to his cabin. "As the doctor was speaking on his cellphone, More took out the machete and slashed Rathi at least 16-17 times. More escaped from the cabin through another door as a staffer in the clinic entered," the police officer informed.
Soon, the staffer raised an alarm and other employees ran towards the cabin and informed. the police. Subsequently, the doctor was taken to a hospital in Panchavati. Several doctors visited the hospital where the victim doctor was being treated.
Commenting on the matter, the Nashik Unit President of IMA Vishal Gunjal said, "Doctors kept their OPDs closed till 12pm on Saturday in protest against the incident. As we realised that the attack was not over any hospital-patient issue, the plan for a day-long protest was called off. We appeal to the police to ensure that such incidents do not occur again."
The police officials are investigating the matter. Commenting on the matter, police informed TOI, "Other things would come to the fore during the course of interrogation of the accused."
Also Read: Nashik doctor abducted, assaulted, robbed of Rs 2.1 lakh at gunpoint, 3 arrested