Vijayan said the probe was properly carried out by the state police and a charge sheet was submitted in court by police without any delay.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Creative Commons)
The Kerala government on Wednesday, 14 February, said in the Assembly that there was to need to hand over an investigation into the murder of Dr Vandana Das by a patient to the CBI as sought by the victim’s parents.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the probe was properly carried out by the state police and a charge sheet was submitted in court by police without any delay.
For the same reasons, the Kerala High Court dismissed the victim’s parents’ plea for a CBI investigation, he said.
“So, on what basis can the government order a CBI probe?” Vijayan asked UDF MLA Mons Joseph who invited the chief minister’s attention to the victim’s parents’ desire for a CBI probe of the case.
Joseph also asked the chief minister whether the government would consider appointing a special squad or team to investigate the claims of the parents with regard to alleged shortcomings in the police probe, to which Vijayan replied in the negative.
“There is no need for any special squad or team to investigate anything,” the chief minister said.
Vijayan also said that in order to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future, the state government issued a comprehensive medico-legal protocol in September last year.
The Kerala High Court had last week dismissed the parents’ plea for a CBI probe into the killing of Dr Vandana Das by a patient at a taluk hospital in Kollam district in May last year, saying there was no reason to doubt the integrity or credibility of the police investigation.
A day after that her parents came out criticising the government for “vehemently opposing” their plea.
They said only an agency outside the state could bring out the truth behind the brutal killing of their daughter.
Raising doubts about her death, Vandana Das’ father Mohandas said the family would file an appeal against the single bench verdict dismissing their plea for a CBI probe.
An emotional Mohandas said he and his wife wanted to know the truth behind the killing of their only daughter.
Dr Vandana Das was stabbed to death by a patient at a taluk hospital in Kollam district in May last year.
“Our case seeking a CBI probe was postponed 20 times. Six judges heard many portions of the plea. All these times, I and my wife went to court to hear the arguments. The state government vehemently opposed our plea. I don’t know why,” he said.
He said the family never said anything against the government so far.
The man also said the family demanded a CBI probe out of their belief that the truth won’t come out unless an agency outside the state investigates it.
Dr Vandana Das, a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents, was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
The accused, G Sandeep, a school teacher by profession, was brought to the hospital by police for the treatment of a leg injury on 10 May, 2023.
He had dialled the emergency number 112, claiming his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing away from his home, surrounded by residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg and a stick in his hand.
He was taken to the hospital accompanied by his brother-in-law and a local political party leader.
As his wound was being dressed, he turned violent. He initially stabbed the politician and a policeman, and then stabbed Dr Das multiple times. She succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was taken after the attack.
(With PTI inputs)
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