AIIMS Official Files Complaint Against Venugopal

AIIMS director P. Venugopal is again in trouble after the institute's chief public relation officer filed a police complaint against him.

New Delhi: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director P. Venugopal is again in trouble after the institute's chief public relation officer filed a police complaint against him.

B.K. Dash, consultant, protocol and public relation officer of AIIMS, has filed a police complaint Feb 6 in the Defence Colony police station here accusing Venugopal of harassment, wrongful restraint from entering office, assault, verbal abuse, fabricating and forging of documents.

Dash, who retired Jan 31, was reappointed as a consultant, protocol and public relations by Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who in his capacity as the AIIMS president, was authorised to take a decision by the governing body of the institute.

"The AIIMS president, who is also the health minister appointed me but the director and his men have deliberately caused injury to my reputation," Dash told IANS.

"In my 25 years of service, I have never faced such behaviour - its unprecedented and an example of administrative loopholes," he added.

Dash worked uninterrupted for two days but Venugopal, who does not get along well with Ramadoss, appointed Medical Officer Raju Singh to look after the responsibilities of the CPRO.

In the complaint, a copy of which is with IANS, Dash said: "On Saturday, I was restrained from entering my office by a security guard who said he was under the orders of the Director and that I should contact the security office. After few minutes, Singh accompanied by 5-6 people came there and demanded the keys. He and his friends intimidated and abused me and threatened me with dire consequence. He intimidated and shouted at my staff including a lady member. I was pushed out of my office."

"Outside my office on the veranda I was confronted by another group of about 4-5 people who claimed their proximity to the AIIMS director. They abused and threatened me for going against Venugopal's wishes. One of them hit me from the back...

"On Monday, when I reached my office I was again restrained by the security guard in the presence of several other people. I also noticed that the lock of my room has been broken and replaced with a new one," the police complaint mentions.

AIIMS has been mired in controversy since the central government decided to introduce quotas for other backward classes last year. The institute, which was the epicentre of an anti-quota agitation, was also in the news due to the tussle between Ramadoss and Venugopal over the last eight months.

Source-IANS
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