Actress abduction case: Actor Dileep approaches HC, seeks CBI probe
Kochi, June 13 : The eighth accused in the Malayalam actress abduction case, superstar Dileep, on Wednesday filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.
In the petition which is likely to be taken up in the court on Thursday, Dileep pointed out that he was framed by the police in the case, and he has no role in it.
Meanwhile, the prosecution in the case is also geared up to take on Dileep as they have decided to bring before the court that "an accused in a case has no right to decide on what sort of probe should take place and moreover, this is nothing but a ploy to delay the trial in the case", which is all set to begin soon.
The police probe team has already submitted the detailed charge sheet in the case and the court on March 14 had summoned all the accused in the case, a common norm just before the trial starts.
Dileep was arrested after two rounds of questioning on July 10, 2017, for his alleged role in the conspiracy hatched for the abduction of a Malayalam actress.
Dileep's former wife Manju Warrier is one of the witnesses in the case. After being in jail for 85 days, Dileep secured bail on October 3, 2017.
The actress was allegedly abducted on February 17 last year while she was on her way to Kochi from Thrissur.
Pulsar Suni, the prime accused, drove her around for two hours before she was dropped near the home of director-actor Lal, who later called the police.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
