Sion Hospital doctor who allegedly ran over 60-year-old woman transferred

Dr Rajesh Dere was arrested on Saturday evening and appeared before the Bhoiwada Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Sunday, who granted him bail

MUMBAI — Dr Rajesh Dere, the head of the forensic department at Sion Hospital, has been transferred to BYL Nair Hospital following an incident on May 28 in which he allegedly ran over a 60-year-old woman on hospital grounds.

Dr Rajesh Dere

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to transfer Dr Dere while police investigations are ongoing. "Since the police investigations are ongoing, we had to transfer him to BYL Nair Hospital. The department there did not have a head of the department for forensics," said a senior civic official. The official added that while Dr Dere has not been suspended, they will await the completion of the police investigation before making further decisions.

Dr Dere was arrested on Saturday evening and appeared before the Bhoiwada Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Sunday. Although initially remanded to judicial custody, he was granted bail almost immediately on a ₹20,000 bond.

CCTV footage from the hospital reportedly shows the incident in which Rubeda Shaikh, the victim, was run over by a Tata Harrier driven by Dr Dere. A postmortem report from Sir JJ Hospital indicated that Shaikh died from bilateral haemothorax, suggesting she was crushed under the car's wheels.

The police accused Sion Hospital's administration and Dr Dere of misleading them and delaying the report of the accident. The FIR was registered over 24 hours after the incident.

Despite the allegations, the civic administration has not initiated an internal investigation. Dr Dere was previously the nodal coordinator for jumbo Covid-19 centres and played a significant role in the operations of the BKC jumbo centre. The incident occurred when he was leaving the hospital in his Tata Harrier SUV. Shaikh, a resident of Mumbra, was at the hospital for a non-healing wound due to diabetic complications.