File picture of SCB Medical College and Hospital where the girl is admitted

Cuttack, June 12: The Odisha CID-crime branch today filed a chargesheet against three doctors, including SCB Medical College and Hospital superintendent D.N. Moharana, for neglecting treatment of the 19-year-old girl, who was allegedly gangraped at Pipili on November 28 last year.

The two other doctors are Kailash Chandra Sahu and Milan Mitra of Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. The crime branch took over the case on January 10 in the wake of a public outcry against the incident.

Crime branch officials said the chargesheet, the fourth one in connection with the case, against the three doctors were filed under Section 4 of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the court of judicial magistrate, first class, Pipili.

The girl, who had initially been denied admission at Capital Hospital, was later shifted to SCB following an Orissa High Court directive. The crime branch probe has found doctors at both the hospitals wanting in looking after treatment of the girl, whose plight has drawn statewide sympathy.

The girl was an eyewitness to an incident of molestation.

On November 30, she was admitted to Capital Hospital and later shifted to SCB. However, she was discharged from SCB on December 15 under mysterious circumstances. When her condition deteriorated on January 7, she was brought to Capital Hospital. However, the hospital authorities initially refused to admit her. Following a hue and cry in the media, they referred her to SCB. For some unexplained reasons, SCB, too, did not admit her. Only after the high court intervened and gave the directive, she was admitted at the premier hospital on January 9.

The girl continues to battle for life at SCB. Apart from a panel of SCB doctors, experts from the All India Institute of Medical Science have also examined the girl.

The case had triggered a political storm in the state, leading to resignation of Pipili MLA Pradip Maharathy as agriculture minister. There were allegations that he had sheltered the accused in his farmhouse and even influenced local police against the accused. All arrests in the case were made after crime branch took charge.

In March, the investigating agency filed chargesheet against the four accused in the case. They had managed to evade arrest till the crime branch took over investigation from the local police. However, no rape charges have been levelled against any of the accused. After filing chargesheet against the accused, the crime branch kept the investigation open as the criminal liability of local police officers and the culpability of the doctors whose negligence aggravated the condition of the victim, who went into coma, had not been ascertained.

The crime branch had also filed a chargesheet against former inspector in charge of Pipili police station Amulya Kumar Champatiray for not registering a case despite being urged to do so by the victim’s family.

In a related development, Justice P.K. Mohanty Commission, inquiring into the incident, has issued notices to seven persons, including the then Puri superintendent of police, to submit their affidavits by June 29. So far, 27 people, including Champatiray, have filed their affidavits before the commission.