Pune car crash: Panel probing blood sample manipulation visits Sassoon hospital

A threemember committee probing into alleged manipulation of the blood samples of the juvenile driver involved in the Pune car crash visited the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on Tuesday reported PTIOn Monday the police arrested Dr Ajay Taware head of the staterun hospitals forensic medicine department chief medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and staff member Atul Ghatkamble in connection with the incidentWe will examine the sequence of events after the accident The probe will be conducted as per the rules and a report will be submitted to the government said Dr Pallavi Sapale dean of the Grant Medical College and J J group of hospitals who is heading the panelThe car crash claimed the lives of two IT professionals in their 20s as their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by a 17yearold in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar area in Pune According to police the teenager was drunk at the timeAs per the PTI report on Monday police claimed that his blood samples were discarded and replaced with another persons samples which showed no traces of alcohol Dr Taware and the other two were arrested in this connectionPune car crash Police say hospital staff switched accuseds blood sample on doctors directionsThe Pune police have claimed that the blood sample of a 17yearold teenager involved in a deadly car accident was destroyed and replaced on the orders of a doctor from Sassoon General HospitalAt a news conference Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar stated that the juveniles father offered Dr Ajay Taware head of the Forensic Medicine department inducements to replace his sons blood sample This came after the teenagers Porsche collided with a motorbike in Kalyani Nagar on May 19 killing two IT professionals reported PTIPer the report the authorities said that they believe the adolescent was intoxicated at the time of the Pune car crash and said that they have arrested Dr Ajay Taware and the hospitals chief medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor in connection with the caseKumar said that the inquiry revealed that the juveniles blood sample was substituted with another persons sample The boys father allegedly approached Dr Taware to arrange the switchThe senior police official told PTI that as a precaution the police collected an additional blood sample for DNA testing which revealed that the sample from Sassoon Hospital had been manipulated because the DNA did not matchIt has been revealed in the investigation of the Pune car crash that the blood samples of the juvenile were replaced with some other persons samples and this was done on the direction of Dr Taware On the instructions of Dr Taware the juveniles blood samples were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with the blood samples of another person said CP Amitesh KumarThe investigation also revealed that it was the juveniles father who had called Dr Ajay Taware and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples Kumar addedBoth doctors were unaware that an additional sample had been collected The authorities are looking into whose blood was used to replace the juveniles sample and have collected CCTV footage from the hospital The case now includes charges under Indian Penal Code sections 201 causing the loss of evidence 120B criminal conspiracy and other related provisions The juveniles father has been named as a coaccusedKumar speaking at the press conference said The report of the other hospital revealed the juveniles blood report at the Sassoon Hospital was manipulated as the DNA of blood samples of both the reports did not match Both the doctors had no idea that the police would take one more sample of the accused juvenile CP Amitesh Kumar said about the Pune car crash accuseds blood swap and added A probe is underway on whose blood samples were collected to replace with that of the juvenile We have recovered CCTV footage of the Sassoon Hospital and further probe is onWe have made the juveniles father coaccused in the present case he saidInitially the Juvenile Justice Board gave the accused bail in the Pune car crash case and directed him to prepare an essay about traffic accidents However due to public indignation and a review application by the police he was placed in an observation home until June 5 The teenagers father and grandfather who were both involved in the Pune car crash have been remanded to custody too