Pune Porsche accident: After a twist in the Pune accident case that led to the arrest of two doctors and an employee of the Sassoon General Hospital in the city, the Maharashtra government has set up a three-member committee. Dean of Grant Medical College and J J group of hospitals Dr Pallavi Sapale has been appointed as the chairperson of the committee, with Dr Gajanan Chavan, professor of the forensic medicine department of Grant Medical College, and Dr Sudhir Chowdhary, Special Duty Officer at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Government Medical College and Super Speciality Hospital as the other members.
The committee has been asked to visit Pune on Tuesday. Medical Education Commissioner Rajiv Nivatkar who issued the order forming the committee has directed the Dean of Sassoon General Hospital, Dr Vinayak Kale, to cooperate with the committee in the probe.
PUNE PORSCHE CRASH
The fatal crash of the Porsche, driven by a drunk minor, on Saturday claimed the lives of two IT professionals. However, amid the investigation, two doctors and an employee of the Pune-based general hospital were arrested over charges of manipulation of the blood sample of the juvenile driver.
Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon Hospital's Forensic Medicine department, Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer, and the staffer Atul Ghatkamble who works under Dr Taware, have been arrested by the Pune Police and have been remaded in police custody till May 30.
The doctors, the Pune Police alleged, threw away the blood samples of the juvenile driver into a dustbin and replaced it with another person’s samples that showed no traces of alcohol. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said at a press conference on Monday that the minor’s father called up the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples.
As the replaced blood samples had no traces of alcohol, the reports provided by the hospital came out clean. However, the entire manipulation came into light after blood samples of the juvenile was also sent to another hospital that showed traces of alcohol.
Now a probe is underway to ascertain whose blood samples were collected to replace that of the juvenile.
The juvenile’s father, Vishal Agarwal, has been made a co-accused in the present case.
Two IT professionals were killed after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by the minor boy in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar area of Pune city. The police claim the teenager was drunk at the time of the accident. The teenager was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board who had asked him to write an essay on road accidents. However, following widespread outrage and a review by the police, the juvenile was sent to an observation home till June 5.