Patna doctor missing case: IMA stage protest over alleged laxity in investigation

Patna: After failing to trace the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) doctor, who has been missing since the beginning of March, Patna police announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh to those who give a tip-off or any information about his location. Moreover, the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) is mulling a CBI probe if the police fail to recover the missing doctor. 

Patna’s SSP Rajeev Mishra said that Patna police are making every possible effort to trace the missing doctor.

“We are using the latest technology to trace him. We have scanned more than 100 CCTV cameras from Gandhi Setu to Hajipur and also with the help of the Delhi forensic lab. On the day of his disappearance on March 1, a Rs 5 lakh transaction happened from his account. As he is still missing, we have announced Rs 2 lakh cash to those who trace him or help us in giving tips about his location,” he said.

Also read- NMCH Doctor Missing Case: Police Recovers CCTV Footage, No Trace Of Doctor

The police have circulated the pictures of the missing doctor, his description and other details on the different parts of Bihar and Sahebganj in Jharkhand and West Bengal’s Murshidabad, Kolkata, Hooghly and Barrackpur.

The development in the investigation came in line with the protest staged by IMA, along with the missing doctor's family members and the Teachers’ Association of the College of Commerce, Art, and Science on Sunday noon. The protesters marched from the IMA state headquarters to the JP roundabout, near Gandhi Maidan, a distance of 500 meters (approx). 

“We have kept all options open, including demanding a probe by a central investigating agency, if the state police fail to recover Dr. Kumar in the next couple of days,” Dr. Ajay Kumar, former senior vice president of the IMA, Bihar unit told HT.

Demanding immediate recovery of the doctor, IMA members threatened the Patna police about including CBI in the investigation. They stated that the police were showing negligence in the case, adding that they lacked to conduct a scientific probe of the car. 

Doctors and members of IMA are standing strong to their statement that the doctor was kidnapped. According to their statement, the police may claim Dr Kumar has gone missing, but they believe he has been kidnapped.

In response to this, Patna police are denying the chances of kidnapping as no ransom call was received by his family members.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about the incident where a prominent doctor associated with the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) Patna went missing and his family members suspected he had been kidnapped, but no ransom call was received.

The missing doctor, the Head of Department (HOD) of the Pharmacology Department of Nalanda Medical College (NMCH), informed his wife, an English professor in a degree college, that he was going to Muzaffarpur for some work. She had contacted him over the phone at 7.42 pm on Wednesday and he said that his car was stuck in a traffic jam on the Gandhi Setu. After that call, she tried to contact him several times, but he was not picking up his phone.

During the investigation, his car was found abandoned on Gandhi Setu and his two mobile phones were also inside. When a police team scanned the CCTV cameras on Gandhi Setu, he was found walking towards Hajipur. In another CCTV camera, he was seen driving a car on March 4.

Also read- NMCH Senior Doctor Goes Missing, Family Lodges Kidnapping Case In Patna