Chennai, May 29 (IANS): The Coimbatore police on Wednesday arrested the senior Vice President of a reputed private medical college in Coimbatore following charges that he along with other staff of the college beat a person to death.

A person named Raja was thrashed allegedly by the hospital staff including senior officials on Monday. Following the beating he fell down unconscious and died.

Police said that Raja from Gandhi Maa Nagar in Coimbatore used to steal pipes from Kovai Medical College and Health Centre (KMCH) posing as a plumber after frequenting the hospital regularly. After the shortage of plumbing material including pipes became regular, the staff checked the CCTV visuals and found that Raja was stealing the pipes.

When he came to the hospital on Monday, the staff thrashed him mercilessly leading to his death. The Vice President of the hospital, R. Narayanan, filed a complaint with the Peelumedu police in Coimbatore stating that a person Raja was caught while stealing pipes from the hospital and when questioned he complained of chest pain and died in the emergency unit of the hospital.

However, Suganya, the wife of Raja, filed a complaint with the police stating that her husband was beaten to death by the staff of the KMCH hospital with the connivance of the top management.

The family refused to accept the mortal remains of Raja from the Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital where it was kept after postmortem.

The police on Wednesday after a preliminary investigation arrested R. Narayanan, Vice President of the KMCH hospital and seven other staff members. Those arrested are Ramesh, Saravanakumar, Suresh, Sasi, Manikandan, Saravanan and Sathish Kumar.

The police charged those arrested under Sections 302 (murder), 342 ( wrongful confinement ), 323 ( voluntarily causing hurt), 201 ( causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information), and 147 ( rioting) of the Indian Penal Code.