KCR condoles death of medical student Preethi, announces Rs 10 lakh ex gratia

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has expressed grief over the demise of Kakatiya Medical College student Preethi and announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the bereaved family.

After battling for life for six days at NIMS in Hyderabad following a suicide attempt over alleged harassment by a senior student, the Kakatiya Medical College PG student Preethi was pronounced dead by the doctors on Sunday evening.

Telangana state Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had expressed condolences to Preethi's family.

The minister said that the Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakhs to the kin of Preethi and asked them to take steps to ensure that such incidents were not repeated in the future. He said the government would extend support to the family.

Stating that the police were investigating the case, minister Errabelli Dayakar said that the accused would be punished severely as per law, no matter what. He expressed condolences to the family and prayed for strength to the family.

However, the announcement caused a stir at the hospital premises after the parents and family members had an altercation with doctors as they insisted on knowing how their daughter died. Also, the parents alleged that Preethi was killed by giving her a poisonous injection.

Demanding punishment to senior student Saif,

along with other members of the WhatsApp group who resorted to harassment, Preethi's parents questioned why the police had not taken action against Saif when the complaint was raised earlier.

Responding to the allegations, NIMS director Dr. Birappa appealed to all those who are concerned with the death of Preethi to stay restrained and cause no disruption to the medical services and said that more than a thousand people were waiting for treatment in various departments. He expressed sympathies to Preethi's family and claimed that despite their best efforts to save her, Preethi succumbed.

Meanwhile, the police who convinced the parents for the post-mortem shifted the mortal remains of Preethi to her native place in Jangaon district. Against this backdrop, the parents asked the police to take the body to their residence at Boduppal for a moment stating that she was born there. However, the police refused to do so and shifted the body to Warangal in an ambulance without the parents who left for their Boduppal house.