A 23-year-old nurse was found “murdered” with her throat slit by a surgical blade and the drawstring untied, at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) Narayana hospital on Wednesday, police said.
According to SSP Reasi, Tahir Sajjad Bhat, the throat-slit body of Vaishali daughter of Ram Lal of Dharmshalla, Himachal Pradesh, who was a staff nurse with the SMVD Narayana Hospital, here was recovered from the cathedral laboratory of the hospital.
Bhat said, “The prime suspect in the case, a nursing staff member of the hospital, Pawan Chouhan son of Sita Ram of Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh, was also found in unconscious condition with his wrists cut by surgical blades, near the body of the deceased.”
The police officer said that both the prime suspect and the deceased were good friends and they wanted to marry each other but their parents were against their relationship.
“From the preliminary investigation, it appears that both the man suspected behind the murder and the deceased had planned to end their lives together but the former survived,” the SSP Reasi said. “However, we have ordered a probe to ascertain the facts.”
A hospital spokesperson told a news agency that Vishali was on night duty at intensive thoracic unit (ITU) of the hospital and at about 3.30 am she took a break, after informing the “concerned shift incharge.”
When she did not turn up for duty even after lapse of almost two hours, the other staff on duty called her many times, he said.
At around 6:27 am, she was found lying lifeless in a pool of blood in the console room of Cath laboratory.
Pavan Chauhan (23), a critical care assistant in the hospital, was found with cut on his both wrists and was subsequently admitted in the hospital, Harjai said.
The SSP Katra said that a case FIR 94/2018 under section 302 RPC has been registered at police station Katra.
“The prime suspect, Pawan Chouhan is under treatment and is being questioned. During the preliminary investigation, it came out that both were nursing orderlies of Naryana Super Speciality Hospital Kakryal and used to work together,” the police officer said.
Police have shifted the body of the deceased to CHC Katra for post-mortem and other legal formalities and investigation of the case is on.