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Porsche accident: Pune police to probe if blood sample of juvenile came from his mother
The foul play came to light as the police had taken another blood sample of the juvenile for DNA testing and had sent that to another hospital for results.
The three-member committee formed by the Maharashtra medical education department to investigate tampering of the blood samples of the 17-year-old minor involved in the Porsche accident has found his blood samples were swapped with those of a woman and two other elderly persons. The identities of these people have still not been revealed.
While seeking extension of the custody of the two Sassoon doctors Ajay Taware and Shrihari Harnol and a third staffer, Atul Ghatkamble, on Thursday, the police told the Pune sessions court that they had yet to ascertain the identity of the woman and therefore needed further interrogation of the three accused. Outside the court, police also refused to confirm speculation that the woman involved is the mother of the underage driver.
According to the investigating officer in the case, assistant commissioner of police, Sunil Tambe, Dr Halnor initially told the police that he had thrown the juvenile’s blood sample in the dustbin. “However, a fresh police probe revealed that the extracted blood sample of the minor in the syringe was handed over to someone and we want to investigate who that person is, and under whose pressure this was done,” Tambe told the court.
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Police officers also told HT that the sample of the woman which was eventually passed off as the minor’s blood sample was collected by Sassoon doctor outside the CCTV coverage area. The three-member committee, headed by Dr Pallavi Saple, dean of JJ Hospital in Mumbai, in its finding said: “Dr Srihari Halnor, casualty medical officer (CMO) at SGH, who was on duty on 19th May, did not follow the norms during the medical examination and extraction of blood samples of the minor. Dr Halnor took the blood samples of a woman and two elderly people to swap it with the minor’s blood sample.”
The foul play came to light as the police had taken another blood sample of the juvenile for DNA testing and had sent that to another hospital for results. The report from the other hospital revealed that the juvenile’s blood report at the SGH was manipulated as the DNA of (blood samples of) both reports did not match. The two Sassoon doctors had been unaware that the police had taken one more sample of the accused and sent it for testing elsewhere.
Pune Porsche crash: How doctors ‘changed’ teen driver's blood sample | Sequence of events
After the committee submitted its report, the state government and the medical education department took disciplinary action on Wednesday against the two doctors and suspended them from service. Ghatkamble, a conservancy employee, has also been suspended, said Sassoon officials. The police also told the court that Dr Taware who was on leave on the day of the day of the accident had offered an inducement of ₹2.50 lakh to Dr Halnor and ₹50,000 to Ghatkamble to swap the samples and that this amount has been recovered by them. They also told the court that they are of the view that this money was the first tranche and that more money was to follow.
“The resident medical officer and medical superintendent have failed to monitor Medico Legal Cases (MLC) as per the hospital administration manual rules. The dean failed to realise the administrative and social seriousness of the case and, had he investigated it in time and informed the government and the administration of Sassoon Hospital, it would have helped the police investigation and maintained the image of Sassoon Hospital and also the government,” said Dr Saple.
