Pune luxury car accident: Accused teenager’s blood sample may have been replaced with mother’s at Pune hospital

The recent luxury car accident here that resulted in the deaths of two young IT professionals took yet another startling turn after it emerged that the blood sample of the accused 17-year-old teenager may have been replaced with that of his mother by doctors at the city’s Sassoon General Hospital.

According to government and police sources, the blood samples of two other occupants in the car at the time of the May 19 crash were also replaced at the hospital by blood samples of their kin in order to get the drunken teenagers (including the accused 17-year-old driver) off the hook.

Pune police sources said Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer who was later arrested and suspended for having changed the blood sample of the accused teenager who was driving the car, had reportedly taken the sample of the boy’s mother, Shivani Agarwal, who was present at the hospital, and thrown the juvenile’s sample in the dustbin.

Sources said the three-member committee appointed by the State Medical Education Department to probe the manipulation of the juvenile driver’s blood sample had found that the blood samples of a woman and two men were collected at the hospital that day.

Three suspended

Dr. Halnor had been recently arrested along with Ajay Taware, head of Sassoon’s run hospital’s forensic medicine department and staffer Atul Ghatkamble for manipulating the blood samples in exchange of cash in order to show that the teenager was not inebriated. A court on Thursday extended their police custody to June 5.

Pune car crash: It was Sassoon doctor's idea to swap juvenile's blood samples, police say

While the two doctors and the staffer were suspended, Sassoon Hospital dean Vinayak Kale was sent on forced leave after the three-member panel referred to his “negligent” handling of the case.

Dr. Kale, in a press conference on Wednesday hours before his ouster, had claimed that Maharashtra Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif and MLA Sunil Tingre (both part of the ruling Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction) had recommended that Dr. Taware be made the head of Sassoon Hospital’s Forensic Medicine Department, hinting at political influence behind the appointment given Dr. Taware’s chequered past.

In response to Dr. Kale’s ‘allegations’, Mr. Mushrif, speaking to reporters on Thursday, said Dr. Taware had already been removed from his position in April itself and that he had committed the act (of manipulating blood samples) while on official “long leave”.

While admitting that Mr. Tingre, the Vadgaon Sheri MLA, had given him a letter recommending the appointment of Dr. Taware as the medical superintendent, Mr. Mushrif clarified that after the recent notorious incident of a patient dying of rat bite in the ICU, Dr. Taware had been removed from his post.

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“After the rat bite incident, Taware had been removed from his post in April this year and had been sent on a long leave. He called Dr. Halnor on the night of the accident and instructed him to change the blood samples for a cash deal of ₹3 lakh with the family of the accused teenager. We have arrested both doctors and sent the Dean on compulsory leave,” Mr. Mushrif said.

The Minister said that in order to overhaul the system, a stern dean was needed at Sassoon Hospital.

“As per the three-member committee report, Dr. Kale had not discharged his duties properly. The committee has submitted a report saying that Dr. Kale had been negligent and had not taken the necessary precautions in this case…A very wrong message will go before the public if we allow such things to continue,” said Mr. Mushrif.