Dr Vandana Das murder: Convict moves Kerala HC against life term awarded by trial court

Kochi: Sandeep G, the man convicted by the trial court for the murder of Dr Vandana Das, a house surgeon at Taluk Hospital, Kottarakkara, has approached high court with an appeal challenging his conviction.A bench comprising Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and K V Jayakumar on Tuesday admitted the appeal and adjourned the matter for further consideration. Vandana Das was allegedly stabbed to death by Sandeep on May 10, 2023. The incident occurred when the police brought him to the hospital for a medical examination in the early hours of the day, as he was reportedly under the influence of alcohol. While being taken into the casualty ward, Sandeep allegedly took a pair of scissors from the procedure room and attacked a bystander and police personnel. He allegedly stabbed the policemen, his neighbour, who had accompanied him, and Vandana, inflicting a total of 16 stab wounds on her.In March, the additional sessions court, Kollam, found Sandeep guilty of multiple offences under the IPC, including murder, grievous hurt and attempt to murder, as well as offences under the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012. The sessions court sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh for the offence of murder. Additionally, he was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for attempt to murder, and another 10 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 25,000 for grievous hurt.In his appeal, Sandeep denied the allegations against him and claimed that he was not in a proper mental condition to understand and assess the situation on the day of the incident due to mental illness and delusions. He further contended that the trial court failed to properly appreciate the evidence given by the head of psychiatry department at Govt Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, regarding his mental condition.