Dharawath Preethi — a Kakatiya Medical College first-year postgraduate student, died on 26 February after trying to end her life earlier.
Dr Saif. (Supplied)
A local court in the Warangal district of Telangana granted bail to Dr SA Saif, who was booked on the charges of ragging and harassment of Dr Dharawath Preethi — the first-year postgraduate student of the Kakatiya Medical College who died on 26 February after allegedly trying to end her life earlier.
Saif was granted bail on a personal bond amount of ₹10,000, with two people standing as surety.
“The court has also ordered him to appear before a liaison inquiry officer every Friday for the next 16 weeks between 12 noon and 2 pm. The court also said any attempt to threaten the victim’s family and destroy any evidence would result in bail revocation. He has also been asked to appear before whenever he would be summoned,” Warangal Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) B Kishan told South First.
Preethi allegedly attempted suicide on 22 February, after being apparently harassed by Saif at the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in the Warangal district of Telangana.
He was arrested on 23 February. Preethi died on 26 February at NIMS Hospital in Hyderabad.
It should be mentioned that the autopsy report, which could help ascertain the reason for her death, has not come out in public.
Warangal Commissioner of Police (CP) AV Ranganath told reporters that there was apparently targeted harassment of Preethi by Saif, which could have driven her to attempt suicide.
Hours after arresting Saif, the officer said he was booked for the woman’s attempted suicide.
The police also invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Anti-Ragging Act against the accused.
“It is clear that there was targeted harassment of this girl by Saif. He was making remarks to insult her in a WhatsApp group,” said Ranganath.
The police have retrieved the data from the WhatsApp groups of first and second-year MD students of anaesthesia.
After Saif made a remark in the group about a case sheet on 18 February, Preethi sent him a personal message objecting to it. She reportedly told other students that Saif had said: “You don’t have brains.”
Stating that the medical college had a culture where junior students had to address their seniors as “sir”, the police official said Saif probably did not like the woman questioning him.
The toxicology report of Dharawath Preethi returned negative.
The urine and blood samples taken from the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad on 23 February both showed no presence of external toxins.
She was said to have administered herself phenobarbital. However, the report said that phenobarbital was not detected in her blood sample.
Similarly, amphetamine, benzodiazepine, barbiturates, cocaine, morphine/opiates, marijuana, and tricyclic antidepressants were not detected in her urine samples.
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