Chennai Psychiatrist electrocuted to death while charging laptop in hostel room

Chennai: During the attempt to charge her laptop, a female trainee doctor at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Kilpauk tragically lost her life due to electrocution in her private hostel room while trying to connect her laptop charger to an extension box.

According to the police, she was found lying on the ground while holding a laptop wire in her hand next to the charging cable which was connected to an extension box. It is believed that the charging cable at the private hostel in Ayanavaram was defective, leading to the electrocution of the doctor. There were burn injuries on her right hand which indicated that she suffered the injuries from electric shock. 

The deceased has been identified as 32-year-old Dr Saranitha, a native of Namakkal district. She was undergoing a one-month training programme at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Ayanavaram and had completed her MD in Psychiatry at Coimbatore Medical College. She is survived by her husband who is also a doctor and a 5-year-old child. 

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During the investigation, the police found an air cooler, a cell phone, and a laptop connected to an extension wire that was plugged into the main switchboard. The police suspect that she may have been electrocuted while trying to plug the laptop wire into the extension box, as the main wire was already connected to the switchboard.

As per a TOI news report, the incident occurred on Sunday morning when the doctor after having her breakfast at 10 am went to her room. Her husband was the first to discover the incident when he failed to contact the doctor for a long time after making several phone calls. Initially, he contacted the hostel management who sent a staff to check up on her. 

Following this, the staff member entered her room and found her lying unconscious on the floor. Immediately, he informed the hostel manager who called an ambulance and informed the matter to her husband and the police. She was immediately rushed to Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital where she was declared dead. After this, the police sent her body for a postmortem to the Govt Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital (KMCH). 

A case under Section 174 (unnatural death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered by the police and an investigation is underway. 

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