Chairman of UK-based firm arrested by Telangana police, firm cries conspiracy

Police say the accused, sitting in a foreign country, is trying to leverage social media to make outrageous accusations against investigation agencies.
Chairman of UK-based firm arrested by Telangana police, firm cries conspiracy
Chairman of UK-based firm arrested by Telangana police, firm cries conspiracy
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A series of angry tweets from Divya Rawat, the vice chairperson of Braunwald, a UK-based hospital management firm, caught the eye of the former state IT minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao. This after Braunwald’s chairman Dr Narendra Vikramaditya Yadav was arrested by the Rachakonda police from Chennai last month based on a cheating case filed by his employees.

Divya, presently in the UK, has called the arrest of her business partner and the firm’s chairman a conspiracy by the Telangana police. A case of kidnapping has also been filed against Dr Narendra for allegedly detaining a UK citizen, one of his employees in Hyderabad. Dr Narendra was arrested on May 17 and is now in judicial custody. However, police say they have ample proof against the duo and they were creating ruckus through Twitter to divert attention.

Trouble started on April 28 when 61-year-old Kenneth Townsend, hired as an “observer” by Braunwald to observe the quality of the nursing staff in Hyderabad, filed a kidnapping case against Dr Narendra, Divya, and Dr Narendra’s driver.

According to the Petbasheerbagh police, on April 28 Kenneth was taken to an apartment at Laxminagar colony, Gundlapochampally and allegedly confined to a room by Dr Narendra’s driver, Chandrabhanu. “He was provided all amenities but was not allowed to leave the apartment. He then contacted a friend who came to his rescue and then called the police,” said A Srinivasa Rao, ACP, Petbasheerbagh.

However, talking to TNM, Divya alleged that the cases being filed against her and her business partner are instigated by Dr Parthasarathi Rao, the owner of Poulomi Hospital. She also alleged that Parthasarathi Rao was related to the Rachakonda Police Commissioner.

Braunwald Healthcare entered into a contract with Poulomi Hospital, located in Secunderabad’s AS Rao Nagar, in December 2018 and took over operations from Jan 1, 2019, but stopped their operations in April. According to Poulomi Hospital, Braunwald stopped paying salaries to employees and vendors.

Defending himself against the allegations made by Braunwald Healthcare, the owner of Poulomi Hospital Dr Parthasarathi told TNM, “I am someone with 40 years’ experience in the medical field and have never come across such international crooks, that too one who is a doctor,” adding that in the few months that Braunwald managed the hospital, it was badly handled. The doctor refuted all allegations about exerting pressure on the police to arrest the Braunwald chairman. He also denied having any relations with the Telangana Chief Minister’s family or the Rachakonda Police Commissioner.

“In April, when they were taken to the Kachiguda police station, their chairman promised the police that he would pay up the salaries and the money owed to the vendors within 10 days. All this while, Kenneth was watching the ruckus at the hospital created by the vendors and the employees struggling to get salaries, and thought it was wrong. He was supposed to serve at the hospital for three months but they rescheduled his ticket. After Kenneth was rescued, he had no place to go. We gave the poor man accommodation and helped him get back home,” Dr Parthasarathi added.

On April 30, the hospital employees who had not received their salaries approached the police and filed a complaint against Braunwald’s chairman and vice chairperson at the Kachiguda police station.

On May 17, the police arrested Dr Narendra from Chennai and he was later remanded to judicial custody and is now out on bail. In a press release, the police said he has confessed to his crimes.

Since Dr Narendra’s arrest, Divya has been tweeting from the UK to the Indian Prime Minister, the External Affairs Minister and others. She also sought help from the Rachakonda Police Commissioner.  Divya refuted the allegations made by Kenneth, claiming that he filed a false case as he was offered a position as a critical care supervisor at Poulomi Hospital by its owner.

She also alleged that Poulomi Hospital owes Braunwald Rs 90 lakh.

However, her tweet threatening to stall investments caught the attention of the TRS working president. “On one side @KTRoffice @KTRTRS welcomes foreign companies to Telangana to venture, when they come to do business they are harassed like us. I’ll let my fellow people in England to stay away from the business in India,” her tweet read.

KTR responded to her tweet requesting the Telangana police DGP to look into the matter and assured Divya of justice, saying, “Divya Ji, let me assure you that justice will prevail. We work without any fear or favour. If you need any further assistance you can contact my office.”

However, police say the investigation into both the cases is still ongoing. “We still have to arrest this lady. These are all economic offences, people want to expose other people’s mistakes by concealing their own mistakes. All this being done on Twitter is to divert attention and create confusion,” said ACP Srinivasa Rao, who further claimed that such companies take over sick companies and don’t pay their fair due to the employees.

A senior official within the Rachakonda police commissionerate told TNM that Mahesh Bhagavat, the Rachakonda police commissioner, has no relative by the name of Dr Parthasarathi. “The Commissioner is from Maharashtra and not from the two Telugu states and has no relative by that name,” he said.

The official said the accused, sitting in a foreign country, is trying to leverage social media to make outrageous accusations against investigation agencies. “How criminals can use social media to change public perception by levelling wild allegations is clearly noticeable in this case. Even mainstream media people are believing it, this is a completely post-truth type creation,” he added.

The police say Dr Nagendra was involved in a similar case in Noida, UP in 2013 and was subsequently banned for 5 years by the Medical Council of India for professional misconduct in 2014. He resumed his service from 2019.

The police are urging Divya Rawat to appear before investigation agencies in Rachakonda, Cyberabad and cooperate with the investigation.

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