Pune: Pune Police on Monday claimed that blood samples of a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in a car accident were thrown into the dustbin at the behest of a doctor at Sassoon General Hospital and samples of someone else were passed off as that of the boy.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar claimed in a press conference here that the minor’s father had talked to the doctor and offered him some bribe to change the blood samples. Two IT professionals were killed in Pune on the morning of May 19 when a speeding Porsche car hit them. The car was allegedly driven by a minor. Police claim that the teenager was drunk at the time of the accident.
Kumar said they have arrested Dr Ajay Tavare, head of the forensic department of Sasoon Sarvopchar Hospital, and Dr Srihari Halnor, chief medical officer of the government hospital. “Investigation has revealed that the teenager’s blood samples were replaced with those of another person and this was done on the instructions of Dr Tavare,” he said.
He said that on the instructions of Dr. Tavare, the blood sample of the teenager was thrown in the dustbin and someone else’s blood sample was taken in its place. Kumar said, “Investigation also revealed that the teenager’s father had talked to Dr. Ajay Tavare and asked him to replace the blood sample by offering some bribe.” The senior police officer said that as an extra precaution, they had taken another sample of the teenager and it has been sent to another hospital.
“The report from the other hospital revealed that the blood report of the juvenile at Sasoon hospital was manipulated as the DNA (of the blood samples) in both the reports did not match,” he said. He said the two doctors had no idea that the police would have taken another sample (of the accused juvenile).
“It is being investigated whose blood samples were collected and replaced with that of the teenager. We have recovered CCTV footage of Sasoon Hospital and further investigation is on,” Kumar said. He said sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code have been added to the case registered against the teenager.
“We have made the juvenile’s father a co-accused in the present case,” he said. The juvenile was initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board and also asked to write an essay on road accidents but following criticism of the leniency shown to him and a review petition filed by the police, he was sent to the detention centre till June 5. The police have arrested the juvenile’s father and his grandfather in the case. The juvenile’s father is a real estate businessman.