Bangalore: Ten days since the brutal attack on a woman bank manager at an ATM in Bangalore, the victim is finally well on the path to recovery.
While doctors had initially feared Jyothi Uday could be paralysed on the right side of her body, her recovery from brain surgery has been positive and she won't suffer any long-term paralysis. Jyothi has been shifted from the ICU to a private ward.
"All brain reactions are fine. At the current pace of recovery, she could be discharged from hospital in about ten days. We will, of course, still need to make arrangements for medication, nursing and physiotherapy for continued care at her home," said Dr NK Venkataramanaa, chief neurosurgeon at the BGS Global Hospital where she is currently admitted.
Jyothi was critically injured when an intruder entered the ATM and attacked her when she had gone to draw cash on November 19th for her daughter's birthday which was three days later.
She was hit on the head with a machete by the intruder who drew down the shutters from inside the ATM, and tried to force her to divulge her ATM password. She suffered a major injury in her brain and fell down unconscious.
The attacker left, thinking she was dead. It was two hours before passers-by noticed blood near the ATM kiosk and noticed her. She had lot a considerable amount of blood by then.
She was taken for surgery, and was treated for possible infections too. Psychologists at the hospital are also evaluating her through her treatment.
"Anytime she thinks about the incident she gets emotional. So we don't allow her to recount it to her family, we are not allowing people to see her either. Motivation is important at this time, as it would be for anybody who gets paralyzed for no fault of hers, just like a bolt from the blue She was in shock, but we hope she will be more positive," said Dr Venkataramanaa.
Jyothi, who made a brief appearance to the media briefing, only thanked her doctors and said all she wants now it to just go back home. "I am waiting to go back home now, I don't want to talk anything more," she said.
Doctors say fortunately, she has not experienced any nightmares and her team of doctors is constantly engaged in motivating her to think positive.
"I feel she is very lucky, it was a major injury and she lost a lot of blood. We feared infections, haemorrhage. With all that, she is doing well. We don't want to re-kindle old things," the neurosurgeon said, adding that her four-year-old daughter's visits have also helped.
On the investigation front, the Andhra Pradesh police has upped the reward for any information on the attacker, offering 2 lakh rupees now, apart from the one-lakh-rupees reward announced by the Bangalore police earlier.
Over 40,000 posters of the attacker's pictures have been put up across Anantpur district, where the attacker is suspected to be hiding. Police say he was involved in the murder of a woman in Dharmavaram in Anantpur district about a week prior to his attack on Jyothi in Bangalore. There again, he had asked the earlier victim for her ATM cards and their passwords, killing her after getting the information. Other valuables like her gold jewellery were intact.
The attacker had withdrawn money from the dead woman's account twice before the cards were deactivated. Evidence also points to the fact that he was lurking around the Corporation Bank ATM near the Hudson Circle in Bangalore during the early morning hours for three days before November 19th, possibly looking for whom to target.
The attack on Jyothi happened around 7 am on November 19th, while she was on her way to work at the Corporation Bank branch across the road from the ATM where she stopped.
Police also say the attacker was tracked to Hindupur, where he sold Jyothi's phone to an old-phones dealer. He was later tracked to a lodge in Penukonda, where he stayed for a couple of days. Police suspect he changed his appearance by shaving off his hair and beard.
A massive manhunt is on and the joint police forces of the two states are leaving no stone unturned to find him.
Comments
0 comment