‘Defunct’ CCTV cameras offer little help to police
Police said Kartikeya was in the hospital at least till 9 am. Over 13 hours later around 10.30 pm, his body was found.
Despite protests after the rape and murder of a woman doctor in a hospital in Kolkata, many of the security lapses at Prayagraj’s SRN Hospital, where a young doctor was found dead in his car Saturday night, remain unaddressed. At present, the hospital has 170 to 180 junior and resident doctors working in many of its departments.
CCTV cameras installed at the hospital parking where Dr Kartikeya Shrivastava’s body was found had not been functioning since Covid days, sources in the hospital said. Police officials confirmed that four cameras installed near the parking were found to be defunct. Footage from those cameras could have helped police in their investigation into the doctor’s death.
In footage from other CCTV cameras, the doctor can be seen entering the premises in his car in the morning. In the absence of any footage of the parking, it is difficult for police to establish if anyone was present with Dr Kartikeya in his car at the time of the incident.
Police said Kartikeya was in the hospital at least till 9 am as this was when he left an operation theatre after complaining to his colleagues that he wasn’t feeling well.
Meanwhile, his family members tried to reach him on his phone several times but couldn’t. Over 13 hours later around 10.30 pm, his body was found.
While hospital officials boasted of the facility being equipped with around 100 CCTV cameras, only a fraction of the them were said to be working. The hospital, in August, had said defunct cameras would soon be repaired or replaced.
Hospital superintendent Dr Ajay Saxena said while the proposal for the repair of the defunct cameras had been approved, they couldn’t be fixed due to some issues. “All cameras on the hospital premises will be functional within a week,” he added.
Principal of the hospital’s medical college Dr Vatsala Mishra said she was out of town and still to get details regarding the incident. However, she said that concrete steps would be taken to ensure the safety of doctors at SRN Hospital.