A patient has been sentenced to life in prison 4 years after brutally murdering his psychiatrist.

According to news reports, Umar Dutt, then age 21, went to psychiatrist Achutha Reddy’s office in Wichita, Kansas, on September 19, 2017, aiming to hold the doctor hostage. Reddy’s office manager reportedly heard noise coming from the closed office and after entering, found Dutt assaulting the 57-year-old Reddy.

She intervened, and Reddy fled the building, but Dutt followed him and ultimately stabbed the physician more than 160 times. Dutt than ran over Reddy’s body.

The patient was arrested that day elsewhere and initially entered a “not guilty” plea in Sedgwick County District Court in 2019. Dutt was held in the county jail on a $1 million bond.

In September 2021, he changed his plea to guilty. He was sentenced on November 9.

According to news reports, Dutt will be eligible for parole in 25 years. He received credit for time served of 4 years. The prosecutors and defense attorneys and the judge recommended that Dutt serve his sentence at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility because of a history of mental illness.

KWCH reports that the Kansas Department of Corrections will ultimately decide where Dutt will be incarcerated.

Reddy left behind a wife and three children.

At Dutt’s sentencing hearing, Reddy’s widow, Beena Reddy, MD, a Wichita-based anesthesiologist, reportedly told the court: “My children and I have been devastated by Achutha’s death. Our stability, our security, our peace of mind, has been destroyed by the premeditated, evil actions of Umar Dutt.”

Alicia Ault is a Lutherville, Maryland–based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in publications including JAMA, Smithsonian.com, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. You can find her on Twitter @aliciaault.

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