Three patients die of oxygen shortage at Chamrajnagar COVID hospital, 23 deaths reported in 24hrs
DC rules out reports that all of them died of oxygen shortage
Chamrajnagar: Three patients at the District COVID-19 hospital here have reportedly died due to a shortage of oxygen at the facility on late Sunday night triggering speculations that more people might have also died due to a shortage of oxygen as several deaths have been reported in the hospital lately.
On Sunday night, reports added the hospital ran out of oxygen supply and at least three people died. Reports further added the oxygen that was supposed to be supplied to the hospital from Mysuru was not supplied.
MP Pratap Simha however procured 50 jumbo cylinders of oxygen and has dispatched them to the hospital but the hospital requires at least 150 jumbo oxygen cylinders a day.
Among those dead on Sunday night, was a newly married man Surendra, a resident of Doddahomma village in Nanjanagudu Taluk of Mysuru district whose family has accused that he died due to a shortage of oxygen at the hospital. His family added that Surendra had made a video call to them saying patients in the hospital had died due to a shortage of oxygen and that he was struggling to breathe as well.
The Chamarajanagar COVID hospital has 24 ventilators, 53 ICU, and 55 oxygen beds. Presently, all of them have been occupied by critical patients.
It is learned that the medical facility received the oxygen supply daily from the Southern gas agency in Mysuru. The hospital has a requirement of 280 Jumbo cylinders of oxygen. In the last Friday’s state-wide District Collector’s video conference, the government’s chief secretary had assigned the responsibility of delivering oxygen supply to Chamarajanagar and Coorg districts to agencies in Mysuru.
Reports have further scrutinized the district administration as they suggest at least 23 COVID patients have died in the last 24 hours at the Chamrajnagar COVID hospital alone.
The Deputy Commissioner of the district however ruled out the reports that all of them died due to oxygen shortage. Speaking to the media on Monday morning, Chamrajnagar DC Dr. MR Ravi said “In the 12 hours duration between Sunday morning to midnight, 14 patients have died. Later, in the 7 hours duration since today (Monday) morning, 7 more COVID patients have breathed their last. Among the 23 deceased, 18 of them died after suffering from COVID and other serious illnesses. All of them were in the hospital for the past 2 weeks and being treated on the ventilator. Therefore it is not right to say that all of them died due to shortage of oxygen”.
“On Sunday night, around 10.30 pm, information came in from the District COVID hospital that there is a possibility of imminent oxygen shortage. They had relayed that, there could be oxygen shortage around 2 am in the later hours of the night. I had then immediately contacted the oxygen supplying establishment in Mysuru and made arrangements for the oxygen. Within 12.30 am, we were able to procure some oxygen cylinders. Around 2.30 am, 60 to 70 oxygen cylinders were brought in, and around 6 in the morning, 60 more oxygen cylinders were delivered in from Mysuru. Therefore, we cannot say that 23 COVID patients have all died of oxygen shortage”, the Deputy Commissioner said.
“Mysuru is unable to supply adequate amounts of oxygen. Various issues are arising because of this. This issue has been brought to the attention of the government, and requests have been made asking them to create appropriate measures to tackle this”, the District Commissioner informed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
