On February 7, when Dr. Shashi Kumar Patkar’s family celebrated his father turning 80, they revelled in the joy of the occasion, unaware that it would be the last such gathering in a long while.
Over the next 48 hours, reports of Dr. Shashi firing at his business partner Dr. Uday Rachakonda and Dr. Sai Kumar Mohana Venkata Adapa emerged, followed by his alleged suicide at a farmhouse in Moinabad. Financial discontent between the partners is being cited by the police as reason for the alleged attack, while stress of investments was believed to have driven Dr. Kumar to take his life.
At the heart of the events is Laurel Hospital in Madhapur, set up by its parent company Livewell Healthcare Private Limited. According to its incorporation documents, Livewell was set up in November 2011 with a paid up capital of Rs. 8.9 crore. Directors of the company at the time of incorporation were Dr. Sai Kumar, his wife Adapa Sridevi, Dr. Uday, his wife Mayuri Rachakonda and one Mr. Lakshmi Narayana Vulli who exited the board in 2013. Dr. Uday, who was hospitalised on Monday after the alleged firing, is the company’s listed Managing Director.
Friends and colleagues of Dr. Shashi Kumar told The Hindu that he was involved with Livewell through his investments from before 2013, but did not seek to be part of the board of directors. However, he joined the board in September 2014. His friends claim that his induction was part of his efforts to take stock of the company, which was siphoning off funds.
One of the avenues of alleged diversion, it has emerged, was another hospital in African Guinea. A doctor who claimed to have known Dr. Shashi for a decade informed that Dr. Sai Kumar and Dr. Uday were presenting a rosy picture of investments in Africa to Dr. Shashi, who had never visited Africa. “The two were managing the affairs and claimed that the hospital in Africa was doing well. Shashi learnt later that the money that was to be used for Laurel Hospital was being diverted. Eventually the hospital in African went bust,” the doctor informed.
“The construction of Laurel was inordinately delayed. Though its out-patient practice started on January 1, more than 50 percent of the construction is yet to be completed.”
Searches across company filings with the central government revealed that Dr. Uday was a director till September 2012 of the company Source One Infradevelopers, incorporated in 2012. His wife Mayuri and Dr. Sai Kumar’s wife Sridevi are directors in the wholesale trade firm Sumedha Mercantile Private Limited incorporated on January 4 this year. “He mentioned that investments in Livewell were being diverted and that Dr. Uday became MD while Dr. Sai the CEO drawing fat salaries,” said Ravi Kumar Patkar, brother of Dr Shashi.
Besides refusing to believe that his brother could have fired a weapon, Mr. Ravi also argued that financial problems could not have driven him to suicide given that their brother was proprietor of two successful hospitals. In his departing note, Dr. Shashi said it was Dr. Sai who fired the gun.
“No one who knows my brother can believe he could point a gun, leave alone firing one. The gun was his indeed, but we do not know why he carried it. There is more than financial irregularity to this incident,” Mr. Ravi said adding that his brother had not shown any distress during the family gathering on Sunday.
Differences arose among partners over the issue of diversion of funds of Laurel Hospital
