Doc, hospital trustee sent to jail for graft

The special Anti-Corruption Court has convicted a trustee and a doctor of a private hospital for offering bribe to a government doctor and sentenced them to a year in jail.

The special Anti-Corruption Court has convicted a trustee and a doctor of a private hospital for offering bribe to a government doctor and sentenced them to a year in jail.

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Dr Mohammed Rafique Shaikh, trustee of Muslim Ambulance Society Hospital, and Dr Shakil Ansari had tried to bribe Dr Harish Phatak of Sion hospital to sign a fake a post-mortem report, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said.

ACB officials said a labourer, Kabir, fell off an under-construction building at Byculla and died in 2003. The contractor approached Dr Shaikh, and asked him to issue a fake post-mortem report.

Dr Shaikh approached Dr Ansari, who issued a post-mortem report saying he died of natural causes.

However, Dr Phatak conducted a second post-mortem and found injuries on the body.

He approached the Byculla police alleging that the first post-mortem report was false.

Shakil and Ansari then asked Dr Phatak to change his report and offered him Rs 20,000 as bribe.

The court accepted Special Public Prosecutor Sheela Jamdar’s arguments and convicted Dr Shaikh and Dr Ansari.