Custodial death: Criminal conspiracy angle to cover up case not yet probed

SURAT: One more accused in the Khatodara custodial murder case, constable Kalpesh Garmabha surrendered to the police on Saturday. Five more, including police inspector Mohanlala Bhagwanram Khileri, are still on the run.
Meanwhile, 15 days into the murder case, police are yet to investigate a criminal conspiracy angle between the accused cops and the doctor of New Civil Hospital (NCH). The first doctor who attended victim Omprakash Pandey when he was brought to NCH did not mention injuries in the papers nor named the cops who brought him. While another doctor who came on duty later in the day noticed the injures on Pandey and mentioned it on the papers.
This omission has raised doubts that a cover-up was attempted by the accused cops from the initial stage. Their dramatic escape from the police station on May 31 evening was a planned move since they knew that the victim is already dead or that he won’t survive for long. The cops had also shifted Pandey in mysterious circumstances to a private hospital from NCH. Interestingly, both NCH and Unique Hospital where Pandey was later shifted are within Khatodara police station limits.
“Police are yet to register statement of the doctor who noticed injuries on the victim’s body. While statement of the first doctor who attended the victim has been registered. It is not yet clear if there are any irregularities,” deputy commissioner of police, Chintan Teraiya, told TOI. Teraiya has been handed over investigation into the case.
Pandey was admitted in the hospital on May 31 and was declared dead the next day. In the postmortem conducted on June 2, doctors claimed that Pandey had been for around 12 hours then. However, sources in hospital claim that once a patient is put on ventilator, it is difficult to ascertain the exact time of death. Pandey, who was brain dead, was put on ventilator for over 24 hours at the private hospital.