File photo of Bombay Hospital
In a gruesome incident, one patient was clubbed to death, and two others critically injured when a fellow-patient attacked them with an iron stand in a private hospital in south Mumbai this morning.
The assault took place in the general ward of the Bombay Hospital, and the accused, the police said, was later identified as Shahabuddin Talukdar, 42. He was undergoing treatment for AIDS and renal failure in the hospital. He has been arrested by the police.
The man who bore the brunt of his attack was identified as Lilabihari Thakur, who was being treated for tuberculosis (TB). According to the police, Talukdar suddenly lifted the iron stand, used to hang blood and glucose bottles, and began began hitting Thakur, another patient Prafulchand Parmar (70) and his relative Janardhan Arte (66). "The motive behind the attack is not yet clear as the accused is presently undergoing treatment in JJ hospital," Narendra Singh, senior inspector at Azad Maidan police station, said.
Parmar and Arte were seriously wounded, and are being treated in the hospital, but Thakur succumbed to his injuries, the police said. It has launched a probe into the circumstances which led to the attack.