The Hindu : New Delhi News : Lady doctor dies after seven months in coma

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Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008
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New Delhi

Lady doctor dies after seven months in coma

Devesh K. Pandey

She was allegedly criminally assaulted
Was declared brain dead on Thursday

NEW DELHI: After lying comatose for seven long months, the 24-year-old lady doctor who was allegedly criminally assaulted and on whose life an attempt was made in a hostel room of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation Hospital in Moti Nagar here has died.

The victim, who was admitted to the hospital last September, was declared brain dead this past Thursday. The police are yet to crack the case.

A final year student of Diplomate of National Board, the lady doctor had last worked on a contract basis with the ESIC Hospital. She was found unconscious in a hostel room by her sister who rushed her to hospital. The doctors at the ESIC hospital initially took it to be a case of poisoning, but when she was admitted to Balaji Hospital the doctors there told the family that there were no symptoms of her having consumed any poisonous substance.

The mystery deepened further when the police found ligature marks around her neck, suggesting that someone had tried to strangle her. There were some injuries on her body indicating that an attempt had also been made to criminally assault her. At the scene of crime, the police later found evidence that the victim had been administered an intravenous injection, probably a sedative. Though the police have questioned the hostel occupants and the victim’s friends and relatives, they have not been able to solve the case so far. They also conducted lie-detector tests on some suspects but to no avail. The Moti Nagar police have moved an application in a city court seeking permission to conduct a narco-analysis test on the victim’s brother-in-law. The doctor’s family had raised suspicion about his involvement, but the police have so far not come across any concrete evidence establishing his complicity.

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