An elderly doctor couple of the city was sent to the Choudwar jail here on Friday after they were arrested by the Vigilance police for deceit and possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Prof Surendranath Senapati and his wife Dr Diptirani Samanta were arrested and produced before a special (vigilance court) here. Since the case diaries could not be produced, the court posted their bail applications to Saturday and remanded them to judicial custody.
While Prof Senapati is now officiating as the head of radiation oncology at the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre here, his wife is working as assistant professor of medical oncology of the same centre. Along with the doctor couple, the Vigilance police also arrested one Sudhansu Das, proprietor of a local chemicals and pharmaceutical farm. Das too was remanded in judicial custody for his bail application also could not come up for adjudication.
According to reports, the doctor couple is now facing a DA case for possessing properties worth nearly Rs 3 crore. On investigation, the vigilance sleuths detected that the doctors between May 2013 and December 2015 prescribed costly and less-known anti-cancer medicines prepared by Das' farm to patients, who are covered under Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) and Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY) schemes.
"While drugs of the same composition of branded companies were available in the market at lesser price, the couple insisted the patients to purchase the costly drugs prepared by Das' farm resulting early exhaustion of patients' funds meant under the welfare schemes," said a Vigilance officer, adding that the doctors had an unholy nexus with the drugs manufacturers.