Mother confesses to switching her blood sample with her son’s

A press release issued by the police also referred to the interrogation of suspended forensic department head at SGH, Dr Ajay Taware, ex-casualty medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and mortuary staffer Atul Ghalkamble, who were arrested on Monday for allegedly being complicit in swapping the blood samples

PUNE: The police on Saturday arrested the mother of the juvenile who drove his Porsche over two IT professionals in an inebriated state on May 19. The arrest came following the mother’s confession during interrogation by police that her blood sample was switched with that of her son at Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), said an officer at the crime branch. Later in the evening, the parents also confessed that their minor son was at the wheel of the car at the time of the crash.

Pune --- A view of the Sasoon hospital.--- Photo By -- Mahendra Kolhe

A press release issued by the police also referred to the interrogation of suspended forensic department head at SGH, Dr Ajay Taware, ex-casualty medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and mortuary staffer Atul Ghalkamble, who were arrested on Monday for allegedly being complicit in swapping the blood samples.

As many as 11 persons have already been arrested in connection with the case, including the minor’s father, mother and grandfather. The father, who was first arrested for allowing his underage son to drive his car, and subsequently for issuing threats to his driver to take the blame for the crash, was arrested on Saturday evening in a third case of tampering with evidence. The father, along with the minor’s mother, will be produced in court on Sunday.

Crime branch officials said they had initially detained the mother on Saturday morning from her residence in Wadgaon Sheri in east Pune. They interrogated her on the exchange of blood samples at SGH and the abduction of family’s driver in order to establish the sequence of events and corroborate the facts. “Prima facie it seems she is involved in the evidence-tampering (by changing the blood sample). We will ascertain this further after detailed investigation,” said additional commissioner of police (crime) Shailesh Balkawade earlier in the day.

Elaborating on the next step, a senior police officer said, “To ascertain that the mother’s blood sample was changed with that of the juvenile’s to get an alcohol-free blood report, we will take another blood sample of hers and send it to the forensic lab for testing.”

Evidence of Mother’s Presence at Sassoon Hospital

Crime Branch officials probing the case confirmed that they had evidence about the presence of the juvenile’s mother at the hospital at the time of the blood sample collection on May 19. It is on the basis of this evidence that the police initially detained the boy’s mother and subsequently, after the other accused corroborated the blood sample swap, arrested her. “Yes, we have all the technical evidence of the mother’s presence at Sassoon Hospital at the time the juvenile’s blood sample was collected, and we will submit it to the court,” said another police officer.

The police are investigating who else was present at SGH at the time the blood samples were exchanged. They have also recorded the statements of the paramedical staffers and trainee doctors who were present during the swap. “Many things have come to light after we questioned them,” said a crime branch officer who is part of the probe. “But we will not disclose them at this stage, considering the possible impact on our investigations.”

According to the police, the first blood sample of the juvenile was taken on May 19 at around 11.00 am at Sassoon General Hospital. When the police suspected manipulation, another sample was taken at Aundh Government Hospital in the evening. A third blood sample of the juvenile’s father was taken and sent for DNA matching with the first sample. During the test, it was found that the juvenile’s first blood sample had been exchanged with that of someone else.

The police had initially maintained that after the replacement, the juvenile’s blood sample was thrown into the dustbin but the investigating officer on Thursday informed the court that the sample was later handed over to an unidentified person, who the police are looking for.