Dr Preeti’s suicide: 3 months later, Warangal police file 970-page chargesheet against senior Dr Saif

In the chargesheet, the police have recorded statements from 70 witnesses, including the family members, friends, batchmates, seniors, teaching and non-teaching faculty, officials in the administration of MGM Hospital and KMC, besides technical, medical and forensic experts from the police department. The police have relied on the data retrieved from the cell phones used by Preeti, Saif, and their friends and pieces of technical evidence related to the case.

In the days leading to her extreme decision, Preeti’s father Narender, an assistant sub-inspector in the Railway Protection Force, had raised the issue of harassment faced by his daughter to her Head of the Department (HOD) and others. The police found that Saif used to harass Preeti ever since she joined the department three months ago by invoking her tribal origin.

After her death, the police had altered the FIR with additional sections 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code in addition to sections related to the prohibition of ragging and those under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the Matwada Police Station. The initial probe then found that Preeti felt “persistent targeted harassment” and “deliberate attempts to insult her” by Saif.

Warangal Police Commissioner A V Ranganath told indianexpress.com that the police have concluded the investigation and found Saif as the lone accused in the case. According to him, the investigation did not find any role of the professors, head of the department or the administration of the KMC or MGM hospital even though the HoD of the Anesthesia department at KMC Dr K Nagarjuna Reddy was shunted out by the state government soon after Preethi’s suicide. Preeti’s father Narender and others had demanded action against the HoD for not acting on time even after being informed about the alleged harassment faced by Preeti by Saif.

On why the teaching faculty was not booked, Ranganath said the official on receipt of the complaint had called both and counselled them and Preethi took her life in less than 24 hours. Meanwhile, the HoD had assured of looking into the case and give his decision after a preliminary inquiry the next day, the commissioner said.

The police investigation also found no truth in the delay in providing medical support and treatment to Preeti at MGM Hospital. After Preethi was found lying unconscious at 8.10 am on February 22, the hospital started the treatment. A day later, she was shifted to NIMS Hyderabad as she suffered a multi-organ failure while under treatment at Warangal’s MGM Hospital. Her cardiac, pulmonary and kidney functions had failed and she continued on life support for four days till her death.

“We have examined the line of treatment given to her and verified with the experts at Gandhi Hospital. They have found no issues in the treatment given to her,” the commissioner added.

According to the investigation, Preethi, who joined the department in December 2022, felt harassed and targeted for the entire time she spent at the medical college. The initial ragging turned into harassment and continued for months because she retorted against all attempts to insult her, and Saif took it up as a personal offence.

The commissioner said the messages, WhatsApp chats and photographs, retrieved from the phones of the deceased and the accused as well as from their friends are proof enough of the harassment and humiliation Preeti felt while at work. The investigation concluded that Preeti injected herself with fentanyl drug to end her life.