ONGOLE: A former rowdy sheeter, who was allegedly mentally unstable, set a 108 ambulance on fire at Ongole taluka police station in the early hours of Wednesday. According to the police, Nelaturu Suresh Babu (39) stays with his parents at Karuna Nagar Colony in Ongole city. He developed a death phobia a few years ago and started behaving strangely. He used to shout loudly at times that someone is trying to strangulate him to death due to thanatophobia. Unable to bear his strange behaviour, his wife got separated from him. Based on complaints lodged by his brothers and other family members that Suresh attacked them, the police registered cases against him earlier.
The staff of 108 call centre in the city lodged a complaint with the police that Suresh was making false calls frequently. Based on their complaint, the taluka police summoned him to the station for questioning. He went to the police station on Tuesday night. While being questioned, Suresh tried to flee and in the process he dashed against the glass door of the reception counter and sustained bleeding injuries on his hands. When the police tried to give him first aid, Suresh did not cooperate with them and started behaving abnormally. Hence, the police called the 108 ambulance to shift him to RIMS. The 108 ambulance reached the police station around 4 am. When he refused to board the ambulance, the police bundled him into it. While the police were speaking to the crew of 108 ambulance, Suresh lit surgical cotton and bandage cloth in the vehicle.
Flames engulfed the ambulance within a few minutes. On seeing the flames, the police and the ambulance crew went to his rescue. When he started shouting that he wanted to die in the fire, the police and ambulance crew forcibly dragged him out of the burning vehicle. While they were busy calling fire tenders, Suresh fled the scene. A fire tender rushed to the spot and by that time the ambulance was completely destroyed in the fire.After registering a case, the police launched a search for Suresh and found him at RIMS a few hours later. His hand injury needed around 30 stitches. The police made tight security arrangements at the hospital and kept a vigil on Suresh.
He is psychologically imbalanced: DSP
Ongole City DSP KVVNV Prasad said Suresh Babu is psychologically imbalanced and he set the 108 ambulance on fire in an abnormal mental condition. Though he fled the scene after setting the ambulance on fire, he visited RIMS later to get his hand injuries treated. RIMS authorities are going to conduct a Covid-19 test on Suresh as a precautionary measure