Published Oct 22, 2026 | 5:30 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 22, 2026 | 5:30 PM
Medicover Hospitals has been under increased scrutiny following a series of deaths.
Synopsis: Telangana police have arrested independent journalist Shankar Goud, who runs the YouTube channel News Line Telugu, in connection with a complaint filed by Medicover Hospitals in Secunderabad. The complaint accuses Goud and AAP Telangana leader Hema Sudarshan of involvement in protests on the hospital premises, during which demonstrators allegedly obstructed ambulances, assaulted hospital staff and damaged property. The hospital has faced increased scrutiny since the deaths of a 28-year-old advocate and two-year-old Gunashree, whose families have alleged medical negligence.
Telangana police arrested independent journalist Shankar Goud, who runs the YouTube channel News Line Telugu, on Thursday, 22 October, in connection with a case registered on a complaint by Medicover Hospitals in Secunderabad. His arrest comes amid protests over a series of deaths at the hospital and allegations of medical negligence by patients’ families.
Police registered an FIR on 16 October after a unit head of Medicover Hospitals lodged a complaint against Goud and Hema Sudarshan of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Telangana, under Sections 126(2), 115(2), 351(2), 329, 324 and 352, read with Section 3(5), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The provisions cover wrongful restraint, causing hurt, criminal intimidation, criminal trespass, mischief and intentional insult.
Plainclothes police surrounded Goud’s house and took him to the Gopalapuram police station. A video of the arrest that went viral on social media shows Goud and his family members questioning why he was being arrested when the FIR invoked only bailable provisions.
Goud has been a vocal critic of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the Congress government. He had also alleged that the chief minister and his family had business partners associated with Medicover.
Medicover Hospitals has been under increased scrutiny following a series of deaths. The family of a 28-year-old advocate who died at the hospital on 13 October alleged medical negligence, prompting lawyers to protest outside the premises.
On 16 October, the family of two-year-old Gunashree, who died at the hospital, staged a sit-down protest on the premises. Police detained one of the family members.
The hospital has alleged that about 50 people had been gathering on its premises since 4 October. It accuses them of forcibly entering the premises on 14 and 16 October, raising slogans and making “false and baseless” allegations against doctors in front of patients.
According to the complaint, the accused and their supporters blocked entrances, stopped ambulances carrying critically ill patients, assaulted five staff members, including women security guards, and damaged a gate, walls and wheelchairs.
The hospital says it has CCTV footage and recordings made by bystanders. It has also reserved the right to pursue separate legal remedies over what it describes as reputational harm.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
