Sydney, July 28 (AP): Two Australian detectives will travel to the US this week to seek information about a disgraced surgeon of Indian origin, currently the focus of a multimillion-dollar investigation in Queensland state, police said.

A government-sponsored commission of inquiry is examining why Dr Jayant Patel ? dubbed “Dr Death” by his former colleagues ? was allowed to practice medicine in Australia despite having been cited for negligence by medical boards in Oregon and New York states.

The commission has recommended that Patel be charged with the murder or manslaughter of one patient, James Phillips, who died after undergoing an operation that several other doctors had allegedly refused to perform because it was too risky. It has also recommended that Patel be charged with fraud for allegedly falsifying his application for an Australian medical licence.