Five doctors in police custody till August 13

MUMBAI: The five doctors, including the chief executive officer and medical director of Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, who were arrested on Tuesday night, were produced

MUMBAI: The five doctors, including the chief executive officer and medical director of Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, who were arrested on Tuesday night, were produced before a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Andheri and were remanded in the custody of Powai police till August 13.

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The Powai police had called the five doctors – Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO, Dr Anurag Naik, medical director, Dr Mukesh Shete, Dr Mukesh Shah and Dr Prakash Shetty -- for interrogation and arrested them later.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Ashwini Lokhande relied on the report of the directorate of health services (DHS) and prosecution pointing at the role played by these doctors. While remanding the five doctors in police custody, the court observed custodial interrogation of the senior doctors is needed for the probe.

Seeking maximum custody, public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale said these doctors had violated the provisions of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and failed to follow the procedure prescribed under the law. “The report clearly states how doctors violated the provisions. The basic procedure of interviewing the donors and their background check was not followed. They have not video recorded the interviews, which is mandatory as per the law,” Sapkale said.

The prosecution argued the doctors and the hospital should have followed the procedure to verify the documents of the donor and organ receiver. The police suspects the doctors might have received kick-backs and they would check the financial gain angle.

The defence said the doctors get involved in the process only when the operation is scheduled. Defence counsel Abad Ponda pinned the blame on the ethics committee of the Hiranandani hospital, which scrutinises details and documents of the donor and organ receiver.