NEW DELHI, December 3: Though the police have arrested a ward boy of the Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and booked him under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, the mystery surrounding the death of a woman at the hospital on December 1, deepened today. Various theories did the rounds in the hospital.The woman had reportedly been found in an unconscious state on the Mall Road by a PCR van, which had then brought her to the hospital for admission. But what exactly happened between the time when she was sent to the casualty from the emergency ward and till she died, remains a mystery.According to hospital sources, the woman had been admitted to the casualty ward in an unconscious state. The nurses attending to her had reported that she was not responding to external stimulation. But when an ammonia test was conducted on her, she is said to have responded and is even said to have told the doctors her name and address. Following this, she was sent to the emergency ward on the second floor for a further check up.The doctors in the emergency ward found that she had not been properly attended to, as her stomach had not been washed - which is the first test conducted in such cases to rule out poisoning. Even her medico-legal report is said to have contained snags. She was, therefore, referred back to the casualty around 1.25 p.m. with the accused, ward boy Joginder, supposed to take her there. Only she never reached the casualty and her body was found with strangulation marks, in a dishevelled state around 2.15 p.m.Based on the postmortem report, the police said that she was murdered and that the accused had confessed to the crime. Some sources at the hospital said that the woman was seen being taken to the third floor by the ward boy. According to them, had she even wanted, it would not have been possible for her to have the access to the terrace, as it was always locked. They also point out that the case papers that were found missing from the hospital were later recovered from the house of the accused. But there are others who allege that it could have been a suicide and that the accused had given in under pressure.According to them, the woman might have been raped before she was brought to hospital. This conclusion is based on the theory that she was not unconscious but in a hysterical state as she had responded to the ammonia treatment.
