JOIN USPopular doc receives tributes
They had not come to the paediatric facility, but to pay their respect to the popular pediatrician with the magic touch, Dr Sharath Kumar, who was abducted and whose body was found near Kunigal on Friday.
The police had a tough time in handling the crowd that surrounded the building which had the clinic on the ground floor and the doctor’s living quarters on the first floor. A pharmacy adjoining it used to sell medicines at subsidised rates.
Masrati Parveen, an octogenarian requested the policeman to allow her car go up to the shamiyana near the building, as she was unable to walk. She wept like a child and later was heard telling doctor's relatives: "For the last two decades he was one of our family members. He never had enemies and was a darling. I have not seen him charging more than Rs 50.”
Gopal Krishna, a neighbour recollected: "He was the only doctor who used to be available till midnight.” On Thursday, the doctor was allegedly kidnapped and within 24 hours, his body was found under a small underbridge on the narrow lanes of a village road near Amruthur, Kunigal. The body bore strangulation marks and had more than half-a-dozen bruises. A deep cut on the wrists showed that he was tied up for long hours.
Working on clues
According to police, a youth called the doctor for a home visit and allegedly abducted him. He used the doctor's cell phone to ask for the ransom in gold jewellery .
The doctor was made to call a neighbour who is a jeweller, asking him to hand over the jewellery to his wife. He was also made to call his wife asking her to hand over the consignment to a youth. Again the abductors forced the doctor call the jeweller asking him to hand over bracelets and other items to a worker in the medical shop.
After collecting jewellery worth about Rs 15 lakh, they drove the doctor toward Kunigal and killed him. Police are working on some vital clues and are confident of cracking the case within a week.
A sub inspector's presence of mind and contacts helped in tracing the body. The moment they received the missing complaint, the SI acted swiftly and alerted his rural counterparts. He got a call about an unidentified body found in Amruthur from constable Satish.