Kottarakkara: The Crime Branch team that investigated the murder of Dr Vandana Das has submitted the chargesheet in the court against the accused, G Sandeep. The latter has been slapped him with charges that attract the death penalty.

The chargesheet was filed after collecting as much evidence as possible during the investigation that lasted 83 days.

Charges under 11 Sections

Charges under 11 Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been imposed on Sandeep. In addition to the offences of culpable homicide (302), attempt to murder (307), destruction of evidence (201), criminal intimidation to cause death (501-2), use of dangerous weapon in attack (324), wrongful restraint (341), attack resulting in injury to the victim (323), deterring a public servant from discharging his/her duty (332), (333), and assault or use of criminal force against a public servant (353), charges under provisions of the law for protection of health care professionals have also been included.

The main evidence in the chargesheet is the footage obtained from the surveillance camera on the atrocities committed by Sandeep in the hospital for half an hour from 4:30 a.m. on the day of the incident.

Key evidences

The chargesheet has chronologically recorded the atrocities committed by an enraged Sandeep after he seized a sharp-edged pair of scissors measuring 20 cm long 6 cm wide. The statements of 11 persons who were present at the spot have been recorded.

The Crime Branch team also produced the hard disc of the surveillance camera in the court.

The statements of Home Guard Y Alexkutty who was stabbed seven times, police officer Manilal who was also stabbed, and the neighbours of Sandeep have been included along with the offences committed against them and the relevant Sections.

During the collection of evidence, Sandeep had made an exact narration of the incident to the police. The digital evidence of this was also submitted in the court.

11-member expert team

The investigating team consisted of Crime Branch Deputy Superintendent of Police M M Jose, Kottarakkara police station Inspector V S Prashanth, Crime Branch sub inspectors C Manoj Kumar, Y Baby John, P Jose, E Nizamuddin, Assistant Sub-Inspector D Jijimol, and officers B Binu, Mahesh Mohan, Najeem, Harigovind, and Santosh.

Parallels with Uthra case

The investigation in the Dr Vandana Das case has some similarities with that in the 2020 Uthra murder case. The investigations in both the cases were conducted by deploying experts to collect scientific evidence. Their study reports were included in the chargesheet.

There are over 20 scientific reports in the Dr Vandana murder case. A medical team consisting of seven doctors was also formed as part of the investigation. Two officers, sub inspector C. Manoj Kumar and cyber cell official Mahesh Mohan who were part of the Uthra case, were included in the Vandana case too.

Dr Vandana Das, a house surgeon at the Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital in Kollam district was brutally stabbed to death by Sandeep on May 10 this year. He had been brought there by cops and left unattended. The murder led to a statewide safety audit at all major hospitals in Kerala.

The sensational Uthra case refers to the diabolic murder of a housewife by her husband, Sooraj, who let loose a viper into her room. The rarely heard crime happened at Sooraj's house at Anchal in Kollam district.