Child-swap case: Police probe new angle

HYDERABAD: A conflict between the hospital management and some of the employees may have been the reason for the child-swapping incident at the Nayapul maternity hospital and not money as suspected earlier.
According to sources, prime suspect attendant Surender Raju was one of the few “certified� corrupt employees the hospital management wanted to transfer and their attempts to transfer him and some other employees had led to acrimony.Police cite this as a likely reason for the child-swapping incident. “Their intention could have been to bring the hospital management to disrepute,� a police officer said.
Raju had been appointed as a class IV employee after his mother opted for voluntary retirement nine years ago. In 1996, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had trapped Raju and five others while accepting bribes. The hospital superintendent had recommended that Raju and others be transferred and sent letters to the government requesting for the same. Employees such as Raju were recruited for the hospital they work for and this meant that government permission is compulsory to transfer them. That permission never came.
“Successive superintendents have tried to transfer many of these employees, including Raju. But they could not,� a hospital staffer said.
Director-general of health services Dr K Anji Reddy said that he had on Wednesday collected pending complaints against some of the employees, including Raju. “I have forwarded them to the government for action at the earliest,� he said.
“We know about Raju’s ACB case. We are looking into that,� additional commissioner of police A K Khan said.