Dean Claims Doctor Who Manipulated Blood Samples Was Recommended by Minister, MLA

Mumbai: Two days after two doctors from his hospital were arrested for manipulating blood samples of the minor accused in the Pune drunk driving case, in which two young IT professionals were killed, the dean of the Pune’s government-run Sassoon Hospital on Wednesday said that one of the arrested doctors had a political backing. Dr. Vinayak Kale said that Maharashtra medical education minister Hasan Mushrif and NCP legislator Sunil Tingre had written a letter and asked for Dr Ajay Tawade to be made the head of the forensic medicine department.

Mr. Mushrif and Mr. Tingre are in the Ajit Pawar faction, which is in power in the state along with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

At around 2.15 am on May 19, a 17-year-old son of a realtor knocked down two IT professionals working in Pune — Ashwini Kostha and Anish Awadhiya. Both of them died in the accident. According to the police case, the minor accused was driving his father’s Porsche car at a very high speed and he was under the influence of alcohol. The CCTV footage recovered by the police show the teenager drinking liquor with his friends in two Pune pubs on the night of the accident.

The Pune police crime branch had arrested Dr. Tawade and Dr Shrihari Harnor, the Chief Medical Officer of Sassoon Hospital, on Monday for allegedly replacing the accused juvenile’s blood samples with those of a doctor to ensure that no alcohol was detected in them. The police has also arrested hospital peon Atul Ghatkamble, who acted as the middleman and allegedly collected the Rs three lakh bribe meant for the two doctors from the juvenile’s family.

Dr. Kale informed that Dr Tawade and Ghatkamble have been suspended while Dr Harnor’s contract has been terminated. “I have taken action at my level,” he said.

Interestingly, hours after Dr. Kale’s statement, he was sent on compulsory leave by the Maharashtra government for “failing to take the case seriously” and “not taking proper decisions” as the dean.

Meanwhile, the Woman and Child Development Department formed a five-person committee on Wednesday, May 29, to investigate whether the Juvenile Justice Board (JJ Board) members followed the correct legal procedures when granting bail to the teenager involved in the car accident case. The JJB had granted bail to the minor accused on the same day of the accident.