The Andhra Pradesh police seems to be hell-bent on trying to fix Dr Sudhakar Rao by implicating him under false charges.
The AP police levelled serious charges against Dr Sudhakar Rao of assault, criminal force and obstruction of a public servant from discharging duty. Deposing before the CBI which is investigating the case as ordered by the High Court, constable V Venkataramana stated that Dr Sudhakar Rao assaulted the police and obstructed the police personnel from discharging their duty. Based on the complaint, the CBI booked cases against Dr Sudhakar.
The Four Town police in Vizag had already booked Dr Sudhakar under Sections 353 for assault, criminal force and obstruction of a public servant from discharging duty, Section 427 of IPC for causing mischief and Section 506 for criminal intimidation. Based on this, the CBI has booked cases against Dr Sudhakar and uploaded the FIR on its website.
The CBI had already booked cases against the police and government officials under IPC 120B, 324, 343, 379 and 506 after the High Court ordered investigation into Dr Sudhakar’s case who had earlier been suspended for publicly criticizing the failure of the government in providing N95 masks to the doctors treating Covid-19 patients.
The High Court had directed the CBI to submit the investigation report within eight weeks and file a case against the Visakhapatnam police officers for manhandling Dr Sudhakar while taking him into custody. On May 16, videos of Dr Sudhakar being beaten, his hands tied to a rope, dragged on the streets by the Visakhapatnam police was widely circulated on social media.
Two months ago, Dr Sudhakar Rao, a civil Assistant surgeon, Area Hospital, Narsipatnam was suspended for speaking against the government.
The doctor had also petitioned the High Court fearing a threat to his life, that medicines used for treating mentally unsound people were administered leading to severe side-effects.
Hearing a petition filed by Dr Sudhakar Rao, the High Court on Friday had asked the state government to clarify if the doctor was in the police or judicial custody. Further, the court had raised serious apprehensions about the medical treatment being given to Dr Sudhakar and directed the state government to ensure that the doctor gets best of treatment.
