Parents yet to be shifted to Vizag mental care hospital

Tirupati: V

Purushotham Naidu

and his wife

Padmaja

, who are accused of killing their two daughters in

Madanapalle

on Jan 24, continue to be at Madanapalle sub-jail even after clear orders from the magistrate to shift them to a government mental care facility. Jail authorities blame lack of response from the armed reserve wing for the delay.

The accused parents were produced before a local magistrate on January 26 following their arrest and were shifted to Madanapalle sub-jail on judicial remand. A team of government psychiatrists led by Dr Radhika recommended the jail authorities to shift them to a psychiatry facility immediately as they needed treatment for their delusions. As there is no such facility in Chittoor district, it was decided to shift them to the government general hospital for mental care in Visakhapatnam.

But Naidu and Padmaja are yet to be shifted from the sub-jail as the armed reserve wing has not responded to repeated pleas of arranging an escort team to accompany the two accused to Visakhapatnam. Madanapalle sub-jail superintendent Ramakrishna Yadav said that though the jail authorities have approached the Chittoor armed reserve wing thrice since January 30 to arrange an escort vehicle for the accused, nothing has been done so far. “This has led to a delay in shifting the prisoners,” he said.