Dr. Srinivas Kakkilaya demands withdrawal of expert panel report on sudden cardiac deaths
Mangaluru: Well-known physician Dr. Srinivas Kakkilaya has urged the government to withdraw the recent report submitted by the expert committee headed by Dr. K.S. Ravindranath of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research. The report concerns sudden cardiac deaths and, according to Dr. Kakkilaya, is incomplete and flawed.
Speaking to Vartha Bharati, Dr. Kakkilaya said that the report, as claimed by media outlets, states there is no link between COVID-19 vaccination and recent sudden deaths. However, he clarified that no such conclusion exists in the report. He pointed out that the studies cited by the committee have no connection to the actual study it claims to have conducted.
“No study referenced in the report addresses whether there is any connection between the COVID-19 vaccine and the recent sudden deaths occurring years after vaccination,” he said. He further questioned how reputed institutions like ICMR and Jayadeva Hospital could publish such inadequate reports, raising concerns over the state of medical science in the country.
Dr. Kakkilaya also criticised discrepancies in the data. "Even children can say that 53+17+180 equals 250. But the report lists the total as 249," he noted. He questioned how the committee could call it a ‘small percentage’ when 1 in 3 of the 77 cases examined showed no cause for heart attack. “If a third of the cases remain unexplained, how can that be considered negligible?” he asked.
He further pointed out that the report itself suggests the possibility of a new or unknown cause behind these cardiac deaths, which contradicts any blanket dismissal of a link with vaccines or past COVID-19 infections.
Dr. Kakkilaya stressed that unless there is clarity, neither the Jayadeva Institute, nor its director, nor the state or central government, nor any doctor has the authority to declare “there is no link” between vaccines and these deaths. “The only honest answer is: ‘We do not know yet,’” he said.
Calling the report half-baked and mathematically incorrect, Dr. Kakkilaya demanded its immediate withdrawal and urged the committee to conduct a proper, in-depth study over the next six months and only then draw any conclusions.
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'Go back to your own country': Indian-origin taxi driver attacked in Dublin
London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.
Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.
Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".
"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.
"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.
A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.
"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.
"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.
“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.
It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.
The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.
“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.
A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.
Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.
The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.
His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.
“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.
Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.
“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.
Another violent anti-Indian attack in Ireland
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 5, 2025
Taxi driver Lakhvir Singh was attacked with glass bottles while doing his job pic.twitter.com/mtkwhLWISx
