Sanjay or Saif, culprits won’t be spared: KTR on Dr Preethi suicide

Speaking at a public meeting, the minister said the Telangana government and the BRS would stand beside Dr Preethi’s family.

BySumit Jha

Published Feb 27, 2023 | 9:33 PMUpdatedFeb 28, 2023 | 1:27 AM

Dr Preeti love jihad

As the alleged suicide of Dr Preethi, the first-year postgraduate junior doctor of the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in the Warangal district of Telangana, created furore amongst people, Telangana Minister of IT and Industries KT Rama Rao on Monday, 27 February, said that culprits in the case would not be spared, irrespective of whether the accused was named Sanjay or Saif.

Speaking at a public meeting at Sodashapally, Station Ghanpur, the minister said that the Telangana government and the BRS would stand with Preethi’s family.

“Be it Saif or Sanjay, whoever has been the cause of the death of Preethi, we will ensure that he faces a lawful punishment, and our government will stand with the family of the medical student,” said KTR at the meeting.

He made this comment after the BJP’s allegations that the case was being diluted by the ruling BRS as the accused was from a particular community.

The last rites of Preethi

On Monday morning, the mortal remains of the Preethi, who passed away on Sunday at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, were brought to her residence in Jangaon.

The last rites were performed in Jangaon on Monday in the presence of various tribal organisations and political parties.

Preethi’s elder sister Puja told reporters that the accused in her sister’s death case should be handed the death penalty to prevent the recurrence of such incidents and the resulting mental agony to parents.

She also said that exactly what happened to her sister during her night duty at the MGM Hospital on Tuesday night needed to be thoroughly probed, and an impartial inquiry ordered into the circumstances that led to her death.

Protest at KMC

The Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday protested against the Telangana government over Preethi’s death.

“The incompetent government’s rule is supporting rapes and Love Jihad. There have been many such incidents in the past and the actions of Love Jihad extremists are increasing day by day with the government’s backing,” said the Bajrang Dal Telangana convenor Sivaramulu in a statement.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Monday staged a protest at the Kaktiya Medical College (KMC) in Warangal.

Carrying ABVP flags and raising slogans, the protestors marched towards the college but were stopped by the police at the main gate. The protestors had an argument with the policemen, triggering tensions.

The ABVP men were demanding the suspension of KMC Principal Mohan Das and Head of the Department Nagarjuna Reddy.

Preethi was the youngest of the three daughters of Narender and Sharada. Her elder sister Puja is married and the other sister Vishalini got married on 9 February. Her younger brother Vamshi Prudhvi is getting a postgraduate degree.

Meanwhile, the principal, superintendent and students of KMC offered mass prayers at the college by marching with candles.

‘Targeted harassment’

Warangal Medical college

KMC

Warangal Commissioner of Police (CP) AV Ranganath told reporters that there was apparently a targeted harassment of Preethi by the senior at Kakatiya, Dr SA 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 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 that “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 suicide bid took a communal hue on Friday as Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar termed it a case of “Love Jihad”.

Several doctors’ associations decried Kumar’s statement and said politicians were trying to score brownie points from the incident before the year-end polls.