Chhagan Bhujbal case: Mumbai court finds JJ dean guilty of contempt of court

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court found the dean of JJ Hospital guilty of contempt of court for not taking its permission before referring former deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal to a private hospital.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court found the dean of JJ Hospital guilty of contempt of court for not taking its permission before referring former deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal to a private hospital.

Chhagan Bhujbal was asked to undergo three tests — holter monitoring, thallium scan and electro physiological study — immediately in October last year. (HT)

The court found Dr TP Lahane guilty on the basis of a plea filed by former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Anjali Damania. The judge, while allowing Damania’s plea, observed, “This court found the dean of JJ Hospital guilty of contempt of court. I will write a reference to the Bombay high court for taking further action against the dean.”

In the last week of November 2016, Damania had moved a plea questioning the long stay of Bhujbal in a private hospital where he was supposed to go only for some medical tests.

Bhujbal was asked to undergo three tests — holter monitoring, thallium scan and electro physiological study — immediately in October last year.

But, as none of the government hospitals could perform a thallium scan, the prison authorities had to obtain a permission from the PMLA court to get it done from a private hospital. Bhujbal was directed to bear the cost. Damania alleged that the tests could have been conducted in OPD and there was no need for the NCP leader to be hospitalised. She alleged that the authorities ought to have taken permission from the court for before admitting him into the hospital. While some tests were done in JJ Hospital,

Damania had also asked the court to call for CCTV footage of the hospital stating that she had received information that various unscrupulous people had visited Bhujbal during his stay there. Accordingly, the court asked the enforcement directorate to get the CCTV footage of the private hospital where Bhujbal had allegedly held meetings.

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