Manipal: In an incident which came to light at around 10.30 p.m. on Feb 3rd, a person dressed as a doctor stole a patient’s mangalsutra form the labour ward of Kasturba Medical Hospital (KMC).
The accused was wearing a lab coat and a white shirt which helped him escape the eyes of the security easily. Revathi, the victim informed the police that the 'doctor' had asked her to take off her jewellery as it was hindering the medical examination.
H D Kulkarni, Inspector of Police has yet to take any action. He said, “The victim is unable to remember what the accused looked like so the police have failed to get a sketch out.” The police were undecisive when questioned as to what steps will be taken next.
According to details given by Revathi, the thief pretended to perform a routine check up with an empty syringe during which she had fallen asleep. It was then that he fled away with her jewellery. It was a 50 gm mangalsutra. Revathi also said that apart from the accused no other person had come into the ward. The FIR was registered by the victim’s husband Yogesh.
A doctor who wished to remain anonymous told TMJ that the approximated value of the magalsutra was around Rs 40,000.
However this incident has also thrown light at the fact that the security strength in Kasturba Medical Hospital is very weak and can be broken easily. To this a lady security who refused to give her name said that they are not in a position to keep checking everyone. She said that with the heavy inflow of both doctors and patients, they cannot keep track of everyone and that in such situations patients are bound to fall into such traps.
Deeksha Awasthi