Taluk health officer suspended after video of him receiving bribes goes viral

Bengaluru: The state health department has suspended a doctor serving at the general hospital in Gudibande with immediate effect, following allegations of taking bribes.

State health commissioner Sivakumar K B wrote in a suspension order dated June 11, 2025 that Dr Narasimhamurthy D R, surgeon, Gudibande Government Hospital, Chikkaballapur district, was allegedly receiving bribes.

Since August 16, 2019, Dr Narasimhamurthy held the post of taluk health officer along with performing his duties as a surgeon. An undated video of him accepting bribes went viral on an electronic media channel and social media on June 11, 2025, from a patient who had come to the hospital for surgery.

An investigative team was formed following this, which said that, prima facie, it appeared that the doctor was receiving bribes. They submitted a proposal seeking action against the doctor under the Karnataka Civil Services Rules, 1957.

It was decided that the doctor had behaved in a manner unbecoming of a government officer and had committed dereliction of duty.

Therefore, to prevent destruction of evidence and unwanted influence on proof, he has been suspended pending inquiry, under section 10 (d) of the Rules, which empowers a government authority to suspend any officer if there is prima facie evidence of gross dereliction of duty.