Sikkim cardiologist tried to rescue hospital staffer in knife attack, stabbed

Cardiologist Sanjay Upreti stepped in to help the Sikkim government-run hospital’s female sanitation worker as the suspect attacked her with a knife. He was also attacked, police said.

SILIGURI: A doctor and a female sanitation worker were injured in a knife attack allegedly by a 42-year-old man inside the Sikkim government-run New STNM Hospital at Gangtok on Monday afternoon, police said.

The Sikkum Police said the condition of the cardiologist Sanjay Upreti and the female sanitation worker is serious. Both were stabbed by the attacker who initially targeted the sanitation worker (Getty Images)

The victims are in serious condition and undergoing treatment at the hospital. The attacker has been arrested.

Witnesses said the doctor was stabbed when he tried to help the woman who appeared to be the attacker’s primary target.

BK Tamang, deputy inspector general and spokesperson of Sikkim Police, said: “The attacker first stabbed Kala Chhetri, a safai karmachari, multiple times and then stabbed Sanjay Upreti, a doctor from the cardiology department.”

Police suspect the attacker, identified as Thinley Bhutia, has a personal grudge against the woman, Tamang added.

Chief minister PS Tamang expressed shock on the incident.

“The murderous attack is highly condemnable. The attacker has been arrested. We will ensure that he gets stringent punishment,” he said.

Eyewitnesses said it was lunchtime when the attacker appeared on the fourth-floor corridor and started shouting. “The man suddenly attacked the safai karmachari with a knife. She landed on the floor in a pool of blood. The man attacked the doctor when he tried to rescue the woman and ran away,” said a nurse who did not want to be identified.

“I never saw this man inside the hospital in the past,” the nurse added.