66-yr-old suffers head injuries while protecting son-in-law from HIV+ man, who killed a patient, injured others during rampage; 42-yr-old was admitted earlier for suspected mental illness
A 42-year-old HIV positive patient went on a rampage at Bombay Hospital on Monday morning, assaulting patients, their kin, and nurses with a steel IV (intravenous) stand and using it to break glass panes, before he could be overpowered.
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The man’s murderous frenzy led to the death of a senior citizen, while two others were seriously injured. While nurses and ward boys made desperate but failed attempts to stop the man in his tracks, it was the relative of another patient who managed to immobilise the man, using a chair.
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Janardhan Arte (in pic) managed to grab the man and used a chair to pin him down, before he could attack more people. Pics/Sayed Sameer Abedi
Sudden attack
The drama unfolded at around 6.30 am in the hospital’s general ward on the third floor of the old building. According to eyewitnesses, the Agripada resident, who had been admitted on May 8 with fever and cold, emerged from the toilet, picked up a steel IV stand, and in a sudden, inexplicable bout of violent rage, barged into a neighbouring ward and starting assaulting whoever crossed his path. He used the IV stand to break the glass pane separating the two wards.
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Janardhan Arte (left) rushed to the rescue of his son-in-law, preventing many other patients in the ward from being attacked, in the process. Lilabihari Govardhan Thakur, a lung cancer patient, succumbed to his injuries
Janardhan Arte (66), whose son-in-law is undergoing treatment in the hospital, managed to grab the man and used a chair to pin him down, before he could attack more people. In course of his valiant rescue, Arte sustained severe injuries on the head, and was also bitten on the leg by the patient. He is now recuperating in the hospital.
It was a close shave for 70-year-old Prafulchand Parmar, with doctors saying that a few more blows could have proved fatal for the man
Arte’s daughter told mid-day, “The man went completely berserk and was trying to attack anyone who came in his way. Even the hospital personnel were unable to control him. My father grabbed him in the nick of time, just as he was trying to attack my husband. But, he sustained injuries himself in the process.”
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The Azad Maidan police were called to the hospital and a case was registered in a few hours against the patient, under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (causing grievous hurt with the help of a dangerous weapon) of the IPC. “His first victim was Lilabihari Govardhan Thakur (75), a patient with lung cancer.
The man hit Thakur around 20 times with the stand, raining blows on his head and chest. He then proceeded towards another bed and repeatedly assaulted Prafulchand Jivanlal Parmar (70),” said Krishna Prakash, additional commissioner of police (south region).
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Thakur succumbed to his injuries later, after which fresh charges were filed against the patient, under Section 302 of the IPC (murder).
'Depressed by diagnosis'
“The accused was admitted on May 8 with symptoms of fever, but he later learnt that he was HIV positive. We suspect that he was unable to come to terms with the diagnosis, and attacked people in a bout of depression.
He has been shifted to J J Hospital,” added Prakash. The patient continued to be violent at J J Hospital, where he had to be bound with ropes, authorities at the hospital revealed.
“We have not arrested him, but he will be kept under surveillance,” said Senior Police Inspector Narendra Singh of Azad Maidan police station.
Thakur’s body was shifted to J J hospital, where a post- mortem was conducted. His grieving relatives have filed an application with the Azad Maidan police, alleging negligence on part of the Bombay Hospital authorities.
“Why was a mentally disturbed patient admitted to the general ward? He should have been admitted to a special ward. We lost our father, and the hospital needs to take the blame for it.
The man was uncontrollable in the morning. He had shown signs of depression for the past two days, but the hospital did not pay any heed,” said Pankaj Leela Bihari Thakur, son of the deceased.
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