Govt hospital thefts solved, 6 in the dock

They had systematically targeted almost every government hospital in the Capital. Police said they had robbed about Rs 2 crore worth of easily saleable surgical instruments in the last four years. The thefts were detected only this year.

They had systematically targeted almost every government hospital in the Capital.

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Police said they had robbed about Rs 2 crore worth of easily saleable surgical instruments in the last four years. The thefts were detected only this year.

Two government hospital employees and a businessman from Bhagirath Place, which is Asia’s biggest pharma market and is located in Chandni Chowk, were among the six who were arrested for the thefts.

The Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch solved more than a dozen cases of burglary and theft reported from eight hospitals in the city with the arrests on Wednesday. Those apprehended were Deepak Kumar (36), Satender Kumar (32), Vinod Kumar (28), Mahender Singh (45), Amar Nath Singh (50) and Harish Joshi (43).

Hindustan Times was the first to report about this spate of burglaries at government hospitals on December 24.

According to police, Deepak Kumar and Mahender Singh were allegedly employed at Safdarjung Hospital.

“They stole on weekends or the day before a holiday, between 9 pm and 1 am,” said Neeraj Thakur, additional commissioner of police (crime).

Amar Nath was a pump operator and worked on Safdarjung Hospital campus.

Joshi, who owns a surgical retail shop at Bhagirath Place in North Delhi, reportedly received the stolen items.

Deepak Kumar, Mahender Singh, Satender Kumar and Vinod Kumar were held from near Safdarjung Flyover on December 27. Amar Nath Singh and Joshi were held later.

Police recovered Rs 2.4 lakh in cash, 145 surgical liga clips, nine packets of surgical sutures, a motorcycle and instruments used for the crimes.