The Tiruchy district police on Monday arrested doctor couple K Murugesan and Gandhimathy for allowing their 15-year-old son Dilheepan Raj to perform a Caesarean section in April.
The couple was called to Valanadu police station at the outskirts of Tiruchy for questioning, following which they were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code — including 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 338 (act that would cause grievous hurt), 336 (endangering the life or personal safety of others) and 468 (forgery) – and Medical Council Act of 1956. They will be produced before a district magistrate, Tiruchy Superintendent of Police Rajashekaran said.
A special team has been formed to trace Dilheepan, who is believed to be hiding in Chennai.
The police filed an FIR against Murugesan and Gandhimathy after the deputy director of health filed a complaint that the couple had allowed an unlicensed person to perform surgery. Dilheepan will be booked separately under the Juvenile Delinquency Act.
The district administration has also initiated action against the two as their scan centre did not have proper records, in violation of the Prenatal Diagnostic Tests Act. Furthermore, the deputy director has sent a complaint to the Tamil Nadu Medical Council, alleging code of ethics violation by the couple and seeking suitable action against them, which could result in their being debarred from their profession.
"Our probe team found enough evidence to support the claim that the boy indeed performed the surgery. The contradictions made by the two doctors when they were questioned separately, the hospital records, the signed declaration of the IMA doctors and the doctors' own recorded claim in a magazine interview proved that the act had indeed taken place," district collector Ashis Vachani told
{{/usCountry}}"Our probe team found enough evidence to support the claim that the boy indeed performed the surgery. The contradictions made by the two doctors when they were questioned separately, the hospital records, the signed declaration of the IMA doctors and the doctors' own recorded claim in a magazine interview proved that the act had indeed taken place," district collector Ashis Vachani told
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. Vachani also confirmed that Nila Ganesan, whom Murugesan had presented as the patient, did not have the medical condition he had described during his IMA presentation and was not the patient operated upon by Dilheepan.