2018 MRI room death: 2 staff were negligent, BMC tells Bombay HC

Reis was responding to a petition filed by the family of the victim, Rajesh Maru, seeking compensation of ₹1.42 crore. The 32-year-old Maru died on January 27, 2018.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that two of its employees have been found prima facie negligent in the preliminary inquiry conducted into the January 2018 incident at BYL Nair Hospital, where a man lost his life after he was sucked into an MRI machine. The civic body said departmental inquiry has been initiated against the employees. Their identities have not been revealed.

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While the inquiry has been initiated, senior advocate Joaquim Reis informed the division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice SJ Kathawalla that charge sheet has not been served upon the two employees. Reis was responding to a petition filed by the family of the victim, Rajesh Maru, seeking compensation of ₹1.42 crore. The 32-year-old Maru died on January 27, 2018. The family’s counsel, senior advocate Darius Khambata, said they have also sought a direction to safeguard all relevant material, including CCTV footage of the area concerned. In response, Reis said an FIR has been registered in connection with the incident and the police have seized the CCTV footage and other relevant material.

The petition filed by Maru’s family said that on the day of the incident, Maru’s mother-in-law was taken for an MRI scan at Nair Hospital even as she was being administered oxygen. Maru was carrying the oxygen cylinder. They claimed a ward boy present at the entrance asked Maru to take the cylinder inside the room. As Maru carried the cylinder into the room, the heavy magnetic field of the MRI machine sucked Maru into it, and he eventually died. When the bench said it will also have to examine if Maru had contributed to the negligence, Khambata said it was the ward boy, a hospital employee, who had handed over the cylinder to Maru. The bench posted the petition for hearing on Tuesday.