E-Paper
Bengaluru surgeon held six months after allegedly killing wife with anesthesia
Mahendra Reddy was arrested following a forensic report that his wife, Kruthika Reddy, died from respiratory failure caused by anesthetic substances
Bengaluru: A 32-year-old general surgeon was arrested six months after allegedly killing his wife, a dermatologist, by administering a fatal dose of anesthesia and passing it off as a natural death in Bengaluru, police said.
Mahendra Reddy was arrested following a forensic report that his wife, Kruthika Reddy, died from respiratory failure caused by anesthetic substances.
The couple had married on May 26 last year. “Mahendra had planned his wife’s murder meticulously. He knew her medical vulnerabilities and used his professional knowledge to exploit them. The evidence shows deliberate and precise use of anesthetic drugs,” Whitefield deputy commissioner of police (DCP) M. Parashuram said.
According to the police, Mahendra was upset after learning that his wife suffered from long-standing gastric and metabolic disorders, information her family had allegedly withheld before the marriage.
Kruthika, who was staying at her father’s home in Marathahalli, reportedly fell unconscious on April 23. She was taken to a private hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival, the DCP said.
Mahendra visited her under the pretext of offering medical care and allegedly administered IV injections containing anesthetic agents over two days before she lost consciousness, the DCP added.
Initially, the police filed an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) based on the hospital memo. But six months later, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) detected traces of anesthesia in her body, and investigators concluded that respiratory failure caused by anesthetic overdose led to her death, prompting police to reclassify the case as murder and arrest Mahendra on October 14.
Kruthika had planned to start her own clinic, Skin & Scalpel, in Bengaluru on May 4. “Our daughter believed her marriage was built on respect and love. But the same medical knowledge that should have healed others was used to end her life,” Kruthika’s father, Muni Reddy, who filed the complaint, said.
Investigators said that Mahendra, who was booked under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), maintained composure during questioning and continued to claim innocence despite the mounting evidence.
