Pune accident case: Govt forms three-member panel after arrest of two doctors of Sassoon Hospital

Porsche involved in accident where two motorbike-borne engineers lost their lives earlier this month. Pic/PTI

The Maharashtra government has set up a three-member committee following the arrest of two doctors and an employee of Pune-based Sassoon General Hospital in connection with the alleged manipulation of the blood sample of the juvenile driver involved in the Pune accident case, reported PTI.

Medical Education Commissioner Rajiv Nivatkar on Monday issued the order appointing the dean of Grant Medical College and J J group of hospitals Dr Pallavi Sapale as the chairperson of the committee. The other members are Dr Gajanan Chavan, professor of the forensic medicine department of Grant Medical College, and Dr Sudhir Chowdhary, Special Duty Officer at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Government Medical College and Super Speciality Hospital, reported PTI.

The committee is asked to visit Pune on Tuesday. The commissioner has also directed Dr Vinayak Kale, Dean of Sassoon General Hospital, to cooperate with the committee in the probe, as per the order. Pune Police arrested Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon Hospital's Forensic Medicine department, Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer, and the staffer Atul Ghatkamble who works under Dr Taware. They were remanded in police custody till May 30, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the Pune police on Monday claimed the blood samples of a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in a car crash were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with another person's samples on the directions of a doctor from the Sassoon General Hospital, reported PTI.

The juvenile's father had called the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar claimed at a press conference.

Two IT professionals died after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by the minor in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar area of Maharashtra's Pune city, reported PTI.

The police claim the teenager was drunk at the time of the accident.

Kumar said they have arrested Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon General Hospital's Forensic Medicine department and Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer of the state-run hospital, reported PTI.

"It has been revealed in the investigation that the blood samples of the juvenile were replaced with some other person's samples and this was done on the direction of Dr Taware," he claimed, reported PTI.

On the instructions of Dr Taware, the juvenile's blood samples were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with the blood samples of another person, he said.

"The investigation also revealed that it was the juvenile's father who had called Dr Ajay Taware and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples," Kumar claimed, reported PTI.

The senior police official further said that as an abundant precaution, they had taken one more sample of the juvenile for DNA sampling and it was sent to another hospital.

"The report of the other hospital revealed the juvenile's blood report at the Sassoon Hospital was manipulated as the DNA of (blood samples of) both the reports did not match," he said, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)