Crime
Patient Arrested Over Indian Doctor’s Murder in Kansas
Achuta Reddy was repeatedly stabbed in an alley behind his clinic in Kansas.
Achuta Reddy, a doctor hailing from Telangana, was stabbed to death, allegedly by his patient, at his clinic in Kansas. The 57-year-old psychiatrist was found in a pool of blood with multiple wounds on his body in a passage behind his clinic in East Wichita on Sept. 13.
One of his patients has been arrested as a suspect in the stabbing death. The investigation team says that the attack on Reddy began at his clinic, and ended up in an alley behind the building, as the assailant chased down the doctor and stabbed him multiple times.
The man who has been accused of Reddy’s murder is 21-year-old Umar Rashid, TV station KAKE reported. Hours after the murder, Rashid was arrested from a country club, after a security guard reported a suspicious person sitting in a car in the parking lot with blood-stained clothes.
This is the second time this year that an Indian from Telangana has been murdered in Kansas. In February, Srinivas Kuchibotla, an engineer hailing from the state, was killed in a hate crime shootout at a suburban Kansas City bar. Reddy’s murder, however, does not appear to be a hate crime, according to police officials.
Community Mourns Loss
Reddy practiced in various Wichita hospitals for two decades before he opened his own practice in 2003, The Wichita Eagle reported.
He became one of the most demanded psychiatrists in the area when he introduced yoga in his treatment. Apart from providing psychiatric care, he used to treat patients with chronic physical pain, and introduced a system he called “Absolute Yoga”.
He himself suffered from chronic back pain for 10 years, which made him research and formulate a system of treatment that emphasized on having the right mindset.
His style of treatment was well received by people in Kansas.
“I tried killing myself, and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been here today,” said Cecilia Smith, a patient who credited Reddy for saving her life, KWCH TV reported.
“The Medical Society is heartbroken over the loss of Reddy,” Denis Knight, the president of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, said.
Reddy’s wife Beena is also a doctor who practices in Wichita. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to her. Reddy’s death is a tragic loss to our community,” added Knight.
“Reddy was an amazing, compassionate man who was kind and loving to anyone he met. He had a gift of knowing what each and every one of us needed and gave it freely,” Brenda Trammel, a psychotherapist at his clinic, told Kansas Eagle.
Condolence messages also poured in online. “Reddy was so unique to anyone else I have ever met in the therapy/psychiatric world,” April Marie Schlenker from Kansas State University posted on KAKE’s website. “He connected almost instantly with people. His eyes held wisdom and secrets and joy.”
The Suspect
The suspect, identified as Umar Rashid Dutt, is being held in prison on a $1 million bond.
Dutt’s neighbours and a former teacher on Thursday told local TV station KWCH that although he was “kind and very quiet”, he was also “rebellious and involved with wrong company”.
Ryan Schrader, who taught Dutt for three years in high school told the station that he remembered discussions on him being sent to India as one of several ideas to “get him on a better path”.
The station did not say where in India he was sent to or when.
Schrader said that Dutt had differences with parents over his future and he was not sure of going to college.
Dutt, who grew up in Wichita with his parents and sister, completed high school in 2014 and did a few semesters at Wichita State University but did not graduate.
“Sometimes he would be talking about smoking, partying and a lot or drinking with his friends.
“There were often a lot of arguments between him and his parents like his mom would walk by and see that maybe he wasn’t paying attention so she would be like ‘Omar you need to focus, you need to really care about your education’,” Schrader told KWCH.
The neighbors described Dutt as “kind and very quiet”, and those who knew him said he was not violent.
(With inputs from IANS)
