RGGGH doctors held on charges of raping colleagues suspended

One of the two doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, arrested on charges of rape and sexual assault of their colleagues, had allegedly molested more women, an internal inquiry by the RGGGH authorities has revealed. 

Both the doctors, S Vetriselvan (35) and N Mohanraj (28), have been suspended from active service.

“When we formed a committee to probe the allegations of rape and sexual assault against Dr. Vetriselvan and Dr. Mohanraj (both general medicine practitioners), more victims came forward and complained against Vetriselvan,” said an RGGGH doctor privy to the developments on condition of anonymity.

The Chennai police arrested the two government doctors recently, as they were accused of sexually assaulting their female colleagues when they were put on mandatory two-week quarantine at a private hotel post-COVID duty. 

As per the protocol, all the doctors and medicos were given two weeks’ mandatory quarantine at a hotel or isolation facility after two weeks of duty in the COVID-19 wards. 

In this particular incident, both the victims and the accused were quarantined at a private hotel in T Nagar.

Police said Dr. Vetriselvan had lured the victim, who was quarantined in a room facing his accommodation on the pretext of installing software in her laptop to facilitate online phone calls, and raped her. 

The victim, who reportedly went on a long leave after that, preferred a complaint several months later to the hospital dean.

The other accused, Dr. Mohanraj, had reportedly sexually assaulted his colleague on the pretext of teaching her breathing techniques, a police officer told DT Next.

After the two victims filed a complaint with the RGGGH dean, an internal committee formed by the hospital authorities investigated the issue before the police complaint was raised. 

“The complaints were raised against the two doctors to the medical college authorities and we formed an internal committee to find out the details. After it verified, the action was taken by the Dean of the medical college and officials of the Directorate of Medical Education,” said a senior official from RGGGH.