Porsche crash: Dean says forensic head was appointed on minister’s order, sent on leave

The Maharashtra government has suspended two doctors and a staffer of the state-run Sassoon General Hospital following their arrest in connection with the alleged manipulation of blood samples of the teenage driver involved in the Porsche crash in Pune.

Separately, Dr Vinayak Kale, the dean of BJ Medical College and Sassoon Civil Hospital, has been sent on compulsory leave and the additional charge has been handed over to Dr Chandrakant Mhaske. The latter is the incumbent dean at Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Government Medical College, Baramati, in Pune district.

Whose fault?

State Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif claimed the dean should have pointed out the reputation of Dr Ajay Taware, who is one of those arrested, when the recommendation was made to appoint him as the head of the department of forensic medicine.

This came soon after Dr Kale said in a press conference that the orders for giving additional charge of the medical superintendent to Dr Taware were given by Mushrif himself and he only followed orders.

Mushrif, who belongs to the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, admitted that Dr Taware’s appointment was made based on a letter submitted by a party MLA, Sunil Tingare.

Suspension based on panel’s report

The suspension of Dr Taware and medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor has been ordered on the recommendation given by the Maharashtra Medical Education Department commissioner.

“The state government has received a report from the three-member committee appointed to look into the allegations. Based on the committee’s report, the medical education department has issued an order to suspend these two officials (doctors),” Mushrif told reporters.

Pune Police arrested the two doctors and Atul Ghatkamble, a class IV employee of the Sassoon Hospital, after it emerged that the blood samples of the juvenile driver were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with another person’s samples, which showed no traces of alcohol. The trio was remanded in police custody till May 30.

According to police, the minor driver was drunk at the time of the incident which resulted in the death of two IT professionals in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar area of Pune city.

Minister’s defence

When asked whether he was aware of past allegations against Dr Taware, Mushrif said, “I do not possess any divine powers so that I would know everything about each person and their deeds in my department.”

“He (the MLA) had recommended Dr Taware’s appointment, and I approved it,” the minister said.

“When the recommendation was made, the dean should have pointed out to us about the reputation of this person. I was abroad till May 24, and I learned about the whole incident on May 26,” Mushrif claimed.

Minister gave order: Dean

Dr Kale, however, said earlier that the orders for giving additional charge of the medical superintendent to Dr Taware were given by Mushrif himself.

“I issued an executive order giving him the additional charge. I just followed the order of the minister. That time, the appointment was done as per the orders from the minister,” he said when asked about Tingre’s letter recommending the handing of additional charge of medical superintendent to Dr Taware.

Minister on suspensions

Mushrif said changing the blood samples is a very major and disappointing thing.

“Courts completely rely on the results of the blood test and postmortem reports. I had given directives to officials to teach the perpetrators a lifetime lesson. Thus, we have taken the (suspension) decision today,” the minister said.

On the role of the hospital employee, a government order stated that “the inquiry has found that Ghatkamble changed the blood samples of the juvenile on the night of May 19 and gave it in a sealed envelope. He has been remanded in police custody till May 30. Since he will remain in custody for more than 48 hours, Ghatkamble has been suspended from duty.

Three generations in the dock

Amid outrage over the car crash, Police arrested the father and grandfather of the minor for allegedly trying to stall the probe. The grandfather had allegedly tried to wrongfully confine the family driver in their bungalow from May 19 to May 20 and pressured him to take the blame for the accident.

The prosecution had told a local court that financial transactions had taken place in the alleged replacement of the original blood sample of the juvenile driver with another person’s sample by the two doctors.

The juvenile’s father had called one of the doctors and asked him to change the samples, the prosecution said, adding that police wanted to investigate who else had given the instructions to manipulate the samples.

The juvenile has been sent to remand home till June 5.

Digital reconstruction

Meanwhile, police are planning a “digital reconstruction” of the accident scene using some latest AI-based tools and software for “evidence appreciation”, a senior police officer told news agency PTI on Wednesday (May 29).

He said such AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools have not yet been used for reconstructing accident scenes, though they have been effectively used in murder cases to reconstruct the body for identification.

“By leveraging these AI tools, we aim to reconstruct the entire accident and crime scene in detail. The objective is to create a comprehensive visualisation of the crime/accident scene to enhance evidence appreciation,” the officer told PTI.

What juvenile did

The juvenile allegedly drank alcohol at a restaurant and a club before driving the car at high speed, which crashed into a motorbike early on May 19, killing two IT professionals.

The digital reconstruction involves recreating the route from the juvenile’s home to Cosie Restaurant to Blak Club in Mundhwa area, and from the Club to the accident spot in Kalyani Nagar area. According to police, the juvenile had partied in Cosie and Blak Club.

Police collected a large volume of CCTV footage along the route taken by the juvenile, leading to the spot of the accident, which will come in handy in the digital reconstruction of the accident site.

“There are some AI-simulated models and core software wherein if CCTV camera footage, photos or spot photos are inputted, they can create some 3D image or 3D walk-through,” an officer explained.

(With agency inputs)