KALABURAGI (Karnataka): A medical student jailed for life in 2002 for murdering his lover’s husband and released for good conduct after 14 years rejoined the course and finished it last year. He was awarded an MBBS degree at the convocation on Saturday.

Subhash Tukaram Patil (40), a resident of Bhasagi village in Afzalpur taluk, 475km from Bengaluru, was not deterred by the years in jail. “I was jailed when I was doing my MBBS course at the Hyderabad Education Society’s Mahadeveppa Rampure Medical College in Kalaburagi. I worked in the jail’s OPD,” Patil said. Earlier this month, he completed a one-year mandatory internship.

On August 15, 2016, he was released from jail and continued his medical studies after getting special permission from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences . He rejoined his old college in 2016 and cleared all subjects in the first attempt. He had been doing his housemanship since 2019 at Basaveshwar Hospital, attached to MRMC.

Patil told TOI: “I’m committed to serving society, especially relatives of prisoners and soldiers. I spent a lot of time in the jail library and never lost interest in studies.”

As a student, Patil had been in love with a married woman and, abetted by her, he shot and killed her husband, an excise contractor. For six years he was in Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, Bengaluru, and was then shifted to Kalaburagi Central Jail for the rest of his term. While in prison he also completed Karnataka State Open University ’s journalism course.

MRMC dean Umeshchandra said though Patil was about 14 years older than his classmates, he completed the course successfully. Dr Kiran Patil, an ENT specialist at Basaveshwar Hospital who lectures at MRMC, said he and Subhash Patil were classmates in 2002. “It’s remarkable that after coming out of jail he continued the same course and successfully completed it.”

