Dr Vandana Das murder: Kollam court finds accused Sandeep guilty, sentencing on March 19

Kollam: The Kollam Additional Sessions Court on Tuesday found G Sandeep guilty of the murder of Dr Vandana Das. The court will declare the sentence on March 19.

The judge said that the accused is not protected under section 84 of the IPC, which provides a legal defence for individuals with unsound minds. The court found him guilty of murder and convicted him under 8 sections of the IPC, which include attempt to murder the cop on duty, destruction of evidence and obstructing the duty of a public servant. He was also convicted under relevant sections of the Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act.

Advocate Prathap G Padikkal, who appeared for the prosecution, said that all the charges raised by the prosecution were proven. The defence raised insanity claims, which the court did not accept.

"Sandeep designed a devious plot to get away with the crime. Knowing that there were injured eyewitnesses, he found insanity as the lone way to save himself. He studied in detail psychiatry books which were available at the prison in Thiruvananthapuram and tried to mislead a team of psychiatrists who assessed him. He wanted to make them believe that he suffered from a chronic mental disorder under the schizophrenia spectrum. During the cross-examination, the prosecution was able to prove that these were merely his attempts to concoct false evidence," said Padikkal.

The initial intervention of the police was also crucial. Three days after his arrest, he was subjected to a psychiatric evaluation. The doctor who interviewed him ruled out any signs of insanity. A medical board was then constituted on May 19, 2023 which also backed the findings of the first evaluation. Later, the board recommended forming an expert team to assess him while he was in prison.

"It was proven that Sandeep pretended signs of mental disorder to mislead the investigation. Till the day before he killed Dr Vandana, he had acted normal. It was a shocking case of a doctor being killed by the patient while engaged in the noble act of saving a life. The very place where such a heinous act happened also lends solidity to the demand that the case should be treated as the rarest of rare," said Padikkal.

Dr Vandana Das was stabbed to death while on duty at the casualty department of Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital in 2023.

Additional Sessions Judge P N Vinod pronounced the verdict. The prosecution had earlier concluded its arguments in the case.

During the final hearing, the defence argued that the accused, Sandeep, had displayed signs of mental disturbance before, during and after the incident. Defence counsel C Prathapachandran Pillai told the court that the accused had no prior enmity with the victims and therefore the charge of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code would not stand.

The prosecution strongly opposed this claim, stating that there was sufficient evidence to prove that the accused was mentally sound at the time of the attack.
Special Public Prosecutor Prathap G Padikkal argued that testimonies of several witnesses, including the headmistress of the school where Sandeep worked as a teacher, showed that he had been performing his duties normally without any behavioural issues.

The prosecution also pointed to statements from a defence witness, teacher Heman, who told the court that the accused used to drive to school and was capable of singing and acting well. These factors, the prosecution argued, indicated that he was mentally stable.
The jail superintendent, who appeared as a defence witness, also testified about Sandeep’s conduct in prison. According to the prosecution, his behaviour in jail showed that he was mentally aware of his actions.

The prosecution further argued that Sandeep had secretly taken a surgical scissors from the hospital and used it to attack Dr Vandana and several others. Citing Supreme Court judgments, the prosecution said the act could not be protected under the legal plea of insanity.

More than 70 witnesses were examined during the trial, and 207 documents were produced as evidence. The trial in the case began in February 2025 before the Kollam Additional Sessions Court. In total, 131 witnesses were listed by the prosecution, including doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, security personnel and police officers.

During the proceedings, the court also directly questioned the accused by reading out the evidence presented in the trial and seeking his explanation. Sandeep denied all allegations raised by the prosecution, including the first information statement given by Dr Mohammed Shibin, who was on casualty duty with Dr Vandana on the night of the attack.

The trial had faced delays earlier after the defence counsel withdrew from the case. Proceedings resumed after a new lawyer appeared for the accused.

Dr Vandana Das, 23, the only daughter of Mohandas and Vasanthakumari from Muttuchira near Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam district, had completed her MBBS and was working as a house surgeon at the Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital.

In the early hours of May 10, 2023, Sandeep, a resident of Cherukarakonam near Kudavattur, was brought to the hospital by Pooyappally police for medical examination.
According to the prosecution, he suddenly turned violent, took a surgical scissors from the dressing room and attacked hospital staff. Dr Vandana was stabbed multiple times during the attack.

Several others, including police personnel and hospital staff, were also injured in the incident.
Dr Vandana was first taken to a private hospital in Kottarakkara and later shifted to a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, where she was declared dead.

The case was later handed over to the Crime Branch for investigation. Sandeep was booked under charges including murder, attempt to murder, assault on public servants and provisions related to attacks on healthcare workers.