Sunanda Pushkar's death: Dr Sudhir Gupta no stranger to controversy

Dr Sudhir Gupta, the doctor who has caused the latest maelstrom over Sunanda Pushkar’s death it seems, is no stranger to controversy. By saying that he was forced to fudge Pushkar’s autopsy report to say that the death was a ’natural’ one, Gupta dragged the issue into the headlines once again, with Shashi Tharoor’s political opponents using it to attack the former union minister. [caption id=“attachment_1603311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AIIMS forensic head Dr Sudhir Gupta.[/caption] There has been speculation that Gupta’s move was influenced by a desire to hold on to his job as head of forensics at AIIMS. Within hours, the management of AIIMS also clarified that Gupta’s letter to CAT was regarding the promotion of a fellow doctor. Moreover, the officials said that charges could be filed against Gupta if required and it was also upto the administration to decide whether Gupta would continue as AIIMS forensic department head or not. According to Governance Now, Gupta was appointed HoD of the forensic department in 2013, bypassing OP Murthy who was disqualified due to “personal indiscretions”. However, soon after the new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director MC Mishra took charge, “Dr Murthy’s disqualification was ignored at AIIMS’s general body meeting to pave way for his (Dr Murthy’s) elevation as the HoD.” And now there is more information that casts aspersions on Dr Gupta, making its way into the media headlines. According to a report in The Indian Express, Gupta’s integrity as a professional doctor has come under clout in the past. The article states that Gupta’s annual confidential reports (ACRs) have, within a one-year-period, assessed him as “very poor” and “outstanding”, with more than one ACR terming him as ’not worth retaining’. _The Indian Expres_s also reports that Gupta faced allegations of plagiarism since 2004.

As far back as in 1996, when Dr Gupta was a senior demonstrator in the department he now heads, three of his seniors Dr R K Sharma, Dr D N Bhardwaj and Dr O P Murty — the man with whom he is now vying for the post of head of the department of forensic medicine — wrote to the then AIIMS director about his “doubtful integrity”. In 2010 when AIIMS was preparing a list of officers with “doubtful integrity”, Dr Gupta’s name was submitted by head of the department Dr T D Dogra.

In 2011, a report in the Hindustan Times had said internal fissures and infighting plagued the top medical institute. It cited an instance where then Forensic Head Dr TD Dogra   disagreed with Dr Gupta over the appointment of the next HoD.

 " ‘The head of the department Dr TD Dogra doesn’t seem to get along with his colleague Dr Sudhir Gupta. Both the parties have been complaining against each other all the time,’ said an administrative official. Citing an instance the official said that Dr Dogra, who was then the dean, was pushing for the candidature of an IPS officer for PhD in forensic medicine when Dr Gupta protested as the latter failed the viva test. Dr Dogra then refused to accept the decision and went ahead and finally the ministry had to intervene."

Dr Gupta’s recent allegations where he has alleged that senior UPA ministers tried to influence Puskhar’s report, will now be examined by the Tribunal as well as the Union Health Ministry, to which Dr Gupta also wrote a separate letter. Dr Gupta had written to the Central Administrative Tribunal alleging that there were attempts to influence the autopsy report of Pushkar, brought out by a team headed by him. Within hours, AIIMS denied the allegations raised by Gupta, saying there was no such pressure from any outside forces on the forensic team. “AIIMS categorically denies that Dr Sudhir Gupta was pressurized to change the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar,” AIIMS spokesperson in a press conference. Tharoor, too, issued a statement saying he and the Pushkar family have always offered complete cooperation with investigating agencies and he has, since the beginning, asked for a complete probe into her death. “Upon the tragic loss of my wife Sunanda and from the very beginning, I have requested for a thorough investigation by the authorities to be conducted and concluded rapidly and transparently. The Pushkar family has taken the same view and we have all fully co-operated with the authorities,” he said. You can read the complete Indian Express report here.