 "Pune crash: Doctors given Rs 3 lakh to swap teen's blood sample, mislead cops to show he wasn't drunk")
Startling twists are coming to fore in the Pune Porsche crash case, showing how several attempts were made by the family of the 17-year-old accused to save him from harsh punishment for knocking down two young techies with his speeding unregistered Porsche Taycan in a drunken state.
In the latest, Rs 3 lakh was allegedly given to doctors of the Sassoon General Hospital to change the blood sample of the minor boy, to make it appear to the investigating team that he was not under the influence of alcohol when the accident took place on May 19 in the city’s Kalyani Nagar.
The Pune Crime Branch said Rs 3 lakh was allegedly received by a staffer of the Sassoon Hospital, identified as Atul Ghatkamble.
Ghatkamble was arrested late on Monday, barely hours after Dr Ajay Taware, head of the hospital’s Forensic Medicine department, and Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer (CMO) of the state-run hospital were taken into custody.
The trio have been remanded in police custody till May 30.
Rs 3 lakh for changing blood sample
Of the total Rs 3 lakh, the Crime Branch recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Halnor and the remaining Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble, who worked under Taware.
A report by NDTV quoted sources saying that Ghatkamble, who used to work as a peon in the hospital, acted as the middleman between the doctors and family members of the teen accused.
It was Ghatkamble, who collected Rs 3 lakh bribe meant for the two doctors.
Teen’s father made multiple calls to hospital head
Vishal Agarwal, father of the teen and a renowned real estate developer, made multiple calls to Dr Taware and instructed him to replace the blood samples.
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Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said that during the investigation, it was also revealed that it was the juvenile’s father who had called Dr Taware and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples.
Teen’s blood sample replaced with a doctor’s?
NDTV report further said Dr Taware hinted at the blood samples of the minor accused being replaced by that of a doctor. It further mentioned officials saying that the samples were swapped to remove the traces of alcohol.
Accused’s original blood sample dumped in a bin
The teen’s original blood sample was thrown in a dustbin and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report of the test showed no alcohol in the first blood sample.
The first test report raised suspicions following which a second blood test of the juvenile accused was conducted at a different hospital with abundant precaution for DNA sampling.
The second blood test confirmed revealed alcohol in the minor’s system.
“The report of the other hospital revealed the juvenile’s blood report at the Sassoon Hospital was manipulated as the DNA of (blood samples of) both the reports did not match,” Kumar said.
The senior cop further said that both the doctors did not have any idea that the police would take one more sample (of the accused juvenile).
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