Pune Porsche Car Crash: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday suspended Dr Srihari Halnor and Dr Ajay Taware of the Sassoon General Hospital after they were accused of alleged manipulation of blood samples of the juvenile involved in the crash of a Porsche car in the city.
They have been suspended after a three-member committee constituted to probe alleged manipulation submitted its report to the Maharashtra government. Also, Dr. Vinayak Kale, Dean of Sassoon Hospital, has been sent on leave.
Atul Ghatakamble, a peon of Sassoon Hospital who was arrested, was also suspended.
Police have arrested Dr Taware, head of the state-run hospital's forensic medicine department, chief medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and staff member Atul Ghatkamble for allegedly replacing the blood samples of the 17-year-old with those of another person with no traces of alcohol.
Dr Vinayak Kale, the hospital Dean, told reporters that the administration sent a proposal to the state government to suspend Taware immediately after his arrest, while the services of Dr Halnor, who was employed on temporary basis, were terminated on May 28.
"Action of suspension is taken at the state government's level. A proposal has been sent," he said.
As per a letter given to his office by Pune police, the accused doctors allegedly hatched the plan to switch the blood samples for financial gains, Dr Kale said.
"After this action (arrest), we took off the charge of HOD, Forensic Medicine from Dr Taware and gave it to a senior professor in the department. Dr Holnar's service was temporary, and it was terminated on May 28," the Dean said.
Ghatkamble, who is a conservancy employee, has been suspended, he said.
Two IT professionals in their 20s were killed after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche, allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, in the early hours of May 19 in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area. According to police, the teenager, son of builder Vishal Agarwal, was drunk at the time.
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