4 staffers of Capital Hospital, scarp dealer held for Rs.60L lab equipment loot

Bhubaneswar: Two days after medical instruments worth around Rs 60 lakh were looted from the laboratory at Capital Hospital here, the Commissionerate Police on Thursday arrested five persons, including four housekeeping staff engaged at the state-run health facility. The fifth accused is a scrap buyer in the Unit-III area.

Briefing the media, Capital police station IIC Padmanabh Pradhan identified the accused as Bhagirathi Nayak, Rama Nayak, Sagar Nayak, Gopalkrushna Panda (all housekeeping staff), and SK Allauddin (a scrap dealer). “The arrested housekeeping staff had been working in the hospital for over 5 years. Some equipment parts have been seized from their possession,” he said, adding that further investigation into the matter is on.

They reportedly sold the medical instruments to the scarp dealer for only Rs 450.

Notably, the theft was captured in the CCTV cameras installed at the Hospital and the thieves, donning what appeared to be staff uniforms, were seen, carrying the lab equipment in sacks on their back.

Capital Hospital director Dr Laxmidhar Sahu had earlier said that unused equipment as well as new ones required for various pathological tests stored in the laboratory for installation were stolen. The instruments worth around Rs 50-Rs 60 lakh were meant for blood, dengue, and malaria tests. The inability of security staff to stop the theft had also raised questions.

Based on the complaint of the hospital, a case was registered by the Capital police station under Section 381 of IPC.