Hyderabad, Nov 7 (PTI) Two persons were arrested for allegedly stealing four ventilators from the government-run RIMS hospital in Adilabad, as part of an inter-state medical equipment theft racket, police said on Saturday.
On October 30, two persons, identified as Sajjan Basanth M and Abhijit, residents of Chandrapur in Maharashtra, entered the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Adilabad, posing as medical technicians, Adilabad District Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan said in a press release.
They stole four ventilators from wards on the hospital's second floor, where critically ill patients were receiving emergency treatment, he said.
The stolen equipment was subsequently transported to Maharashtra, he said.
The accused later contacted Konda Reddy, a Hyderabad-based medical equipment sales and service dealer, to sell the ventilators.
Despite knowing that the equipment had been stolen, Reddy agreed to purchase it and travelled to Chandrapur, Mahajan said.
While the accused were transporting the equipment towards Hyderabad in a car, police personnel conducting vehicle checks near the Adilabad Regional Transport Office (RTO) noticed their suspicious movements, he said.
When the occupants attempted to flee upon noticing the police, they were intercepted and taken into custody, he added.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had previously committed similar thefts at government hospitals in Maharashtra and at the government hospital in Nizamabad, Telangana. The stolen medical equipment from these incidents was also sold to Reddy in Hyderabad, police said.
Sajjan Basanth and Konda Reddy were arrested, while Abhijit is absconding, police said.
The police recovered four ventilators stolen from RIMS, one ventilator and one NST machine stolen from the Nizamabad government hospital, and one fetal monitor and one diathermy machine stolen from two government hospitals in Maharashtra. They also seized Rs 1 lakh in cash, a motorcycle and a car, the release added.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)