Cardiologist found murdered

Dr Kaura was convicted last year in connection with his wife’s suicide

Dera Bassi/Chandigarh, December 21
Dr Deepak Kaura, a city-based cardiologist who went missing from his Sector 19 house last night, was found murdered in his Tata Aria car parked on the Dera Bassi-Habatpur road this afternoon. The 45-year-old victim, who was the owner of Oxford Hospital in Sector 19, was last seen in his car with a woman. In 2010, Dr Kaura was sentenced to four-year imprisonment in connection with his wife’s suicide. He was granted bail by the High Court last year and got engaged to a Canada-based NRI woman on December 10. They were scheduled to get married in January.

The police has registered a case of murder on the complaint of his father, Dr HM Kaura, who suspects that the murder was preplanned. The diamond engagement ring of the doctor, his mobile phone as well as the keys of his car were missing from the spot. The police has recovered Rs 24,000 from the pocket of the victim.

The murder came to light at 2 pm when a passerby spotted the abandoned car and peeped inside. He saw a man wrapped in a blanket lying motionless with the front seats pulled back. He called the police, which reached the spot and identified the body as that of Dr Kaura. The face had turned blue and there were blood spots on the nose and ears.

His family members told the police that he had left the hospital at 7 pm yesterday and returned after some time to examine a patient. He told his driver, Harpreet, to keep his tiffin containing home food in the car. Harpreet told the police that when he went to the car to put the tiffin he saw a woman sitting on the front seat. Dr Kaura left at around 10 pm.

The victim is survived by a daughter who is studying in class X and a son who is at a medical college in Ludhiana.

Tower location The mobile tower location of the doctor showed him to be at Sukhna Lake at 7 pm when he first left his house. He then returned to his hospital and left again. He took the road to Sector 18 in Panchkula and then from Dhakoli towards Dera Bassi. He also gave a missed call from his mobile phone to his hospital at 11 pm following which his phone was switched off. The police also recovered a bottle of whiskey from his car and suspects the woman accompanying him to be involved in the murder.

Past CaseDr Babita, wife of Dr Deepak Kaura, had committed suicide in 2005. She was assistant professor in the department of immunopathology at the PGI and had strained relations with her husband. The police filed a chargesheet for abetment to suicide against Dr Kaura. The deceased’s sister-in-law, Deepali Kohli, was reportedly at the Sector 24 residence of Dr Babita when she committed suicide by jumping from the third floor. On July 12, 2010, Dr Kaura was convicted in the case. Holding him guilty, the court held: “It is true that the accused had driven Babita to suicide. He abetted suicide by creating circumstances by his habits of sexually indulging with female colleagues working under him.” The court granted him bail in November last year.