Kollam Doctor Murder: Accused Sandeep Withdraws Bail Plea From Kerala High Court

The bail application moved before the Kerala High Court by Sandeep, sole accused in the brutal murder of the 23 year old house surgeon Vandana Das, was withdrawn today. 

The Single Bench of Justice Gopinath P. accordingly dismissed the plea as withdrawn.

"After arguing for some time, the learned counsel for the petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the bail application. Dismissed as withdrawn," the Court said. 

In May 2023, the house surgeon on duty at Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital, Dr. Vandana Das, was allegedly stabbed multiple times by Sandeep, who is a school teacher. The alleged attacker was brought to the hospital by the police for treatment of his injuries. The prosecution case is that while the petitioner was being treated, he turned violent and stabbed Dr. Das with dressing room scissors. It was alleged that despite the victim-doctor attempting to flee from the attack, the petitioner-accused followed her and proceeded to attack her.

The petitioner was accordingly booked for offences punishable under Sections 341 ('Punishment for Wrongful Restraint'), 324 ('Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means'), 333 ('Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty'), 307 ('Attempt to murder'), and 302 ('Punishment for Murder') of the IPC, read with Sections 4 and 3 of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 (Prohibition of violence and penalty for the violation of the same), and Section 5 of the Kerala Prevention of Damage to Private Property and Payment of Compensation Act, 2019 ('Punishment for committing damaging act').

The petitioner in his plea had averred that the investigating agency declined to provide him legal assistance and that even in Court, the petitioner was unable to freely communicate with his lawyers.

It was submitted that the entire allegation against him was a 'cooked up story' by the Prosecution, and that there was no prima facie case made out against him. He stated that he was innocent and had been arrested merely on suspicion by the Police.

The petitioner also submitted that at the time of doing the act, by reason of unsoundness of mind and under the influence of sedative medicines, he was incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that what he was doing was wrong or contrary to law.

The petitioner further averred that no police officer had the right to leak out information regarding the outcome of the investigation until the final report is filed in the Court, but the police in this case had violated the said norms.

"This fact remains as it is, the cases may attract either justifiable or uncalled for media publicity and there is a tendency among certain sections of the public to draw sustenance, even from unconfirmed sources, including the police, in order to boost their garbled versions, and the petitioner submits that it has to be considered at the time of the bail petition," the plea states. 

The petitioner also added that in order to attract Section 302 IPC, there ought to be an intention to cause death, which was not found in the present case. The petitioner thus submitted that since he did not cause Dr. Vandana's murder, his further incarceration was not required. 

The plea was moved through Advocates B.A. Aloor, K.P. Prasanth, Archana Suresh, Haritha Hariharan, and Ailin Elezabeth Mathew.

Case Title: Sandeep v. State of Kerala 

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 469

Case Number: Bail Appl. 6522/ 2023