Indrani collapses in jail, shifted to CCU, now stable

Mumbai : Former INX Media chief Indrani Mukerjea underwent a brain MRI scan and other tests after she was rushed to Sir JJ Hospital due to an alleged drug overdose. A senior doctor said her health is stable and that she is responding well to medications.

The hospital dean said that they have carried out several tests and that she has just undergone a brain MRI, reports are awaited and that they will help ascertain if she had a drug overdose or it is some other medical issue.

Dr Sudhir D Nanandkar, Dean, JJ Hospital, said, “She is much better than yesterday. Her MRI and blood investigations are done and the report is still awaited, so we can’t say much. Meanwhile, we are giving her medications as per her symptoms and she is responding well. We will decide her detailed medication and treatment after we receive reports.”

A senior doctor said that she was brought to the hospital in a semi-conscious and delirious state. Currently all her vital parameters are normal and further action will be taken after medical teams evaluate her test reports.

Confirming this, JJ Hospital doctors said that Mukerjea was brought to hospital in a state of drowsiness and was not responding to voice commands. “Her pupils were constricted which indicated chances of drug overdose. We immediately performed a gastric lavage (procedure to wash out toxic substances from the stomach) and the samples, along with her blood and urine samples were sent to the laboratory to ascertain if its indeed a case of drug overdose,” said doctors from JJ Hospital.

CT and MRI scans of Mukerjea revealed ischemic changes in the brain, which restrict the blood supply to tissues, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed to keep tissue alive. “However after medication, she has started responding to voice commands and her blood pressure and pulse is now normal. The blood report is also normal, so chances of drug overdose are less but only after urine and gastric liquid report, we will know for sure,” doctors added.

This is not the first time that Mukerjea has been rushed to JJ in a semi-conscious condition. In 2015, she was admitted there for a suspected drug overdose. At that time, she had remained hospitalised for nearly a week, even as conflicting reports arose on what led to her hospitalisation.

Earlier in the day, Gunjan Mangla, Indrani’s lawyer, was denied entry into Mumbai JJ Hospital.The hospital authorities did not allow her to meet Mukerjea, stating that Mangla needs to take permission from the jail authorities first. The next date for Indrani in the Sheena Bora murder case is on April 11.