NOIDA: After questioning orthopaedic surgeon Dr B P Singh, owner of Noida's Prayag Hospital through the night, Noida police arrested him on Friday for "criminal conspiracy" to kill reporter Mahesh Vats.
Vats had been abducted by three goons from his house and beaten up very badly. The goons had been allegedly sent by the doctor who wanted to settle scores with him, as reported earlier. Vats, who was shifted to Metro Hospital from Prayag Hospital, was declared "brain dead" by doctors attending on him.
"There is very little brain activity now and we are also finding it difficult to maintain Vats's blood pressure. We don't have much hope to offer," said a doctor. Dr Singh was denied bail by a Noida court which remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
However, the court also allowed the police to take the doctor on 14 days of remand, starting any time during this period of judicial custody. Noida city police chief Paresh Pande said: "We will need to take remand of the doctor to help us to locate the people who actually abducted and assaulted Vats at his instance. The car used in the abduction and the weapons of assault have also to be recovered. Further interrogation of the accused will be required for this."
Meanwhile, Vats's wife and 10-year-old son, who had not yet been told about the condition of their father, were praying fervently for his recovery. Vats had been working part-time as a tutor. In fact, in the late nineties, Vats used to teach Dr Singh's children. Police said they needed a lot of information about the doctor's motives. They were also examining the application Vats had filed with the Noida Authority about a fortnight ago under Right to Information Act seeking details about illegal constructions at Prayag Hospital. That allegedly proved to be the flashpoint. About three years ago, this newspaper had reported an incident in which Prayag Hospital had reportedly not allowed a poor villager to leave the hospital without paying a huge bill.
The villager, who had a severely fractured leg, apart from other injuries, claimed he had already sold his modest property to make part payment. The then district magistrate, Deepak Kumar, had ordered the patient to be released as forcing him to stay "amounted to illegal confinement".
