Tanveer Sait doing well, security tightened

Mysuru: Congress leader Tanveer Sait, is continuing to make good progress at the Columbia Asia hospital, where he is being treated for the deep wounds he suffered on his neck after he was stabbed at a wedding here on Sunday night. Satisfied with his rate of recovery, doctors shifted him from the ICU to the ward  Thursday evening.

Dr Upendra Shenoy, who is treating him, said his parameters were stable, and his kidney function and blood pressure were normal. “He is on a soft diet and will remain in hospital till Monday or Tuesday. But after being discharged,  he will have to rest for a few weeks,” he added.

The doctors have not been able to save Mr  Sait's left lower ear lobe that was cut during the attack on him by the 25 -year- old man, since identified as a local , Farhan Pasha. Although they had stitched it back during surgery, it started to turn black and on Thursday morning, he was taken back to the operation theatre for a minor surgery to remove it. The ear lobe was handed over to Mr Sait’s family, who plan to bury it as per Islamic rituals seeing that it was a part of his body.

“So the left ear looks a bit deformed, but there is no harm to functions of the ear.  The lower lobe can be reconstructed through plastic surgery once he recovers from the injury,” Dr Shenoy said.

The hospital's head and neck surgeon Dr Dathathri said the attack appeared to have weakened the Congress leader's voice box and damaged two lower nerves connected to his lips.  “The effect is visible now and his lips could tilt a bit while talking or smiling. This may be permanent, but it will not affect his speech,” he added.  

Neuro surgeon Maqsood Ahmed said that Mr Sait's voice would improve after the inflammation across his neck subsided, but it would  take at least two or three weeks more for him to be able to talk in public life.

Meanwhile, according to police sources, the Congress leader's security has been tightened with the addition of three gunmen, who will function in three shifts. Besides,  Farhan Pasha, the police have made five more arrests. Preliminary investigation indicates that the  attack on Mr  Sait may have been carried out by rival outfits, which wanted to put an end to his monopoly over Narasimharaja constituency, which has elected him five times since the 2002 assembly elections.  

‘SIT probe needed’
KPCC working president, Eeshwar Khandre, who visited Mr Tanveer Sait in hospital, said the party had urged the government to hand over the case to the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Responding to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's claim that the  Siddaramaiah government was partially to blame for the attack as it had withdrawn cases against outfits like the SDPI, Mr Khandre shot back, “Law and order in the state has collapsed and to cover this up, they are making misleading statements. The Chief Minister must instead ensure that the case is swiftly investigated."

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, meanwhile, cautioned elected representatives against making claims that the accused belonged to certain organisations. “The police should be given a free hand to investigate,” he added.