Telangana: Senior arrested for harassing, abetting suicide attempt of junior

The woman reportedly injected herself with a harmful fluid

The Telangana police have arrested Dr MA Saif, a second-year PG medicine student, two days after Dr Dharavath Preethi, a first-year student, attempted to end her life after allegedly being harassed by the senior.

The police have booked Saif under various sections related to ragging, abetment of suicide, and also the SC/ST prevention of atrocities act. Produced before a local court, he was sent to judicial remand on Friday.

Dr Preethi, an MD (Anesthesia) student at the Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal was found in an unconscious state in a room adjacent to one operation theatre in the government-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, on Wednesday morning. After initial treatment succeeded in resuscitating her, she was shifted to the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, where she continues to be in critical condition.

“This is a case of targeted harassment of the woman by Saif. He was constantly pointing out her mistakes publicly and making her feel insulted before others, even in the WhatsApp group chats. It is evident that Saif was persistently bothering her,” Warangal commissioner of police AV Ranganath told reporters.

Dr Preethi reportedly injected herself with a harmful fluid.

“She has apparently attempted suicide. Some injections were found there, including a sealed bottle of Succinylcholine used during surgeries. Preethi made a Google search - 'What happens when a healthy person takes Succinylcholine injection.' An opened bottle of another drug and a Fentanyl injection were also found there. Toxicology reports will reveal the drugs she actually consumed,” said Ranganath.

The police official said that Preethi, “a smart, intelligent, daring, but at the same time a sensitive-minded girl,” was targeted as she questioned Saif's bossing over her.

Preethi's father Dharavath Narender, an ASI with the Railway Protection Force, alleges that Saif had been harassing her since she joined the college in November. Narendar alleged the college authorities' inaction on his complaints against Dr Saif as having compelled his daughter to take the extreme step.

The KMC authorities have denied the allegations, stating the issue as work-wise incompatibility between the two and that they were both counseled to avoid further skirmishes.

ABVP etc student bodies are protesting, demanding justice for Preethi, an ST student. On Thursday, Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan visited the NIMS and inquired about the medico's health status.