A 26-year-old Radiology intern at St Stephen's Hospital, Shashwat Pandey, was found murdered in his rest room with his throat slit on Friday morning. Investigators suspect the involvement of Suyash Gupta, a colleague of the victim, in the murder. Police sources said that raids are on to nab the accused. “The car of the accused has been spotted in Anand Vihar,” said a senior police officer.
Meanwhile, shocked at the murder of her son, Dr Shalini Pandey, the victim’s mother fell sick on Friday and is admitted in the ICU of St Stephen's Hospital.
“As per the biometric system, Suyash punched into the system at around 12.46 am, to gain access to the rest room where Shashwat was found murdered,” said a police officer.
Shashwat was found lying in a pool of blood by an attendant, following which the senior doctors of the department were informed and police were called in at around 9 am on Friday.
“On Thursday night, Shashwat was on night duty. At around 12.20 am, an attendant came to give him a file and left. Since the entry to the rest room on the ground floor is through a biometric system, only the staff of the Radiology Department have access to it. Minutes later, one of the senior doctors called Shashwat on his mobile phone, however, he did not take the call,” said a resident doctor, requesting anonymity.
He further said, “It was only at around 8 am on Friday that resident doctors of the Radiology Department came to the rest room and found it bolted from outside. Since there is a biometric system in place, the bolted door raised suspicion and we called the police. On entering the room, we found Shashwat lying on the ground, with his throat slit.”
A native of Allahabad, Shashwat Pandey had cleared the all medical entrance of DNB examination in March 2015. He had pursued his MBBS from Manipal University in Bangalore.
While Shashwat was termed to a be a meritorious student, resident doctors at the St Stephen Hospital claimed that Suyash Gupta, one of the prime suspects in the murder of Shashwat, was known to have been suspended two months back by the hospital authorities on the grounds that he had psychiatric disorder.
Since March 2015, both Shashwat Pandey and Suyash Gupta had been working in the radiology department. Suyash Gupta lived at Malkaganj with his family and had done his MBBS from a medical college in Kanpur.
Four months ago, Suyash had beaten up Shashwat and also flung his cell phone at Shashwat. He was known to have temper issues.
Family members of Shashwat too claimed that Suyash had been mentally and physically harassing their son for more than a year.
Shocked by the interns death, more than 50 doctors gathered to stage a sit in protest at the hospital premises as they demanded that the culprit be arrested within 24 hours and have asked for a complete shut-down of OPD and Casualty wards. A senior doctor, meanwhile, tried to reason with the striking doctors to call of the strike saying that another death cannot be risked due to the death of the 26-year-old Radiology intern.
“After the death of Shashwat Pandey, we demand that the hospital administration must provide us with ample security. If a doctor can get killed inside a secure area within the hospital, we too can be attacked, murdered or raped,” said another resident doctor.