Mancherial: Five ambulance drivers held for cheating family members of road accident victim

The DCP Aggadi Bhaskar said the arrested were Kiran, Shravan alias Nani, Sai, Sagar and Naresh, who allegedly tried to dupe family members of Revalli Srikanth (35), who died while being treated at a hospital in Hyderabad.

Mancherial: Police have on Monday arrested five local ambulance drivers on charges of attempting to cheat family members of a road accident victim here.

Disclosing details of the arrest at a news conference here on Monday, the DCP Aggadi Bhaskar said the arrested were Kiran, Shravan alias Nani, Sai, Sagar and Naresh, who allegedly tried to dupe family members of Revalli Srikanth (35), who died while being treated at a hospital in Hyderabad. He had sustained serious head injuries when his motorbike hit a tractor at Tekumatla village in Jaipur mandal on August 6.

---

When the injured man was to be shifted to a private hospital in Mancherial on recommendation of doctors who provided first aid, the five drivers intentionally took Srikanth to a private hospital in Karimnagar. The motive for shifting him to another private hospital in Mancherial was that they expected commissions from the hospital management. They had even admitted to delaying treatment by shifting to the private hospital. Later he was shifted to a private hospital in Hyderabad where he was declared brain dead and his organs were harvested.

Bhaskar said that the five had they unleashed a malicious campaign against the deceased person’s relative Raju accusing him of collecting money for organ donation. However, police inquiries revealed that the harvested organs were donated as per the seniority list maintained officialy. They nursed a grouse against Raju as he had taken the deceased person to a particular hospital, rather than the one suggested by the five people.

The DCP further said that police were probing into persons who were assisting the arrested persons in diverting patients to hospitals of Hyderabad and were gathering technical evidence to establish their role in the offence. The police officer also clarified that Srikanth’s treatment charges were waived by the hospital, in view of the organ donation and that no money was paid to his relatives. Mancherial ACP R Prakash and Inspector R Bansilal were present.