The Bengaluru city police on Wednesday said they arrested a 31-year-old surgeon for killing his wife by giving her a high-dose anaesthetic injection six months ago. While initially the doctor claimed it was a case of natural death, the postmortem reports suggested that the woman had been injected with an anaesthetic.
On April 24, Dr Kruthika M Reddy, 29, was declared dead on arrival when taken to Cauvery Hospital by her parents, with whom she was living, after she was found unresponsive in her room. Three days before that, she had complained of gastritis and was treated by her husband, Dr Mahendra Reddy G S, according to the police.
Dr Mahendra had provided her medicine through IV drips. Around noon on April 23, Kruthika asked him on WhatsApp whether she could remove the IV drips as she had been suffering from pain. However, he replied in the negative and returned to give her medicine through IV drips again.
While Dr Mahendra and his family members suggested there was no need for a postmortem, Dr Kruthika’s sister, Dr Nikitha Reddy, a radiologist, insisted on it, according to the police.
The Marathahalli police then registered a case of unnatural death and sought a report from a forensic science laboratory. The police recently received the report, which suggested that Dr Kruthika was injected with propofol, which is a controlled anaesthetic agent restricted for operating theatre use, according to the police.
The police then registered a murder case based on a complaint filed by Muni Reddy K, father of Dr Kruthika, and arrested Dr Mahendra from Manipal in Udupi district.
Muni Reddy said in a statement, “Dr Kruthika trusted her husband completely – she believed in his love and in his profession. But the same medical knowledge that should have saved lives was used to destroy hers. Our family seeks the harshest punishment for this premeditated act and justice for our daughter, whose loss is not just personal but a loss to society.”
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Dr Mahendra, a surgeon at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, married Dr Kruthika on May 26, 2024, and the couple lived at Ayyappa Layout in the Marathahalli police limits.
It is suspected that Dr Mahendra has got hold of the drugs from Victoria Hospital. K Parashurama, DCP, Whitefield, told indianexpress.com, “As Kruthika was unwell, she was being treated at home. But when they came to the hospital and declared she was dead, the Marathahalli police also received a medico-legal case report. Following it, we went ahead and seized the materials that were found in the room of Dr Kruthika Reddy. They were sent to the forensic science lab, which said there were traces of propofol.”
Dr Mahendra was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and sent to nine days’ police custody.