Forensic Head, CMO of Sassoon Hospital held for swapping blood sample of teen accused in Porsche crash case
Pune: In the latest revelation on the Pune Porsche crash case that has sparked nationwide public outrage, two doctors of Sassoon Hospital have been arrested for allegedly discarding the blood samples of the 17-year-old boy suspect accused of murdering two software engineers and replacing them with another person's samples.
The two doctors accused of tampering with the blood sample reports include the head of the Forensic Medicine department of Sassoon General Hospital and the chief medical officer of the same hospital. They have been arrested under Section 467 (Forgery), Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
During the investigation, it was revealed that the Chief Medical Officer replaced the blood samples on the direction of the HOD on 19th May at around 11 am. The CMO allegedly threw the blood samples in a dustbin of the hospital and sent the blood samples of another person to the forensic lab. As a result, the report showed no alcohol traces of the accused.
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As per Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar's statements at a press conference, the juvenile's father had called the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples.
The senior police official further said that as an abundant precaution, they had taken one more sample of the juvenile for DNA sampling and it was sent to another hospital.
"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," he told PTI.
Both the doctors did not have any idea that the police would take one more sample (of the accused juvenile), he said.
After the arrest of the two doctors, the police seized their mobile phones for further investigation. They will be produced before a local court for police custody later in the day. Moreover, the police have also seized the DVR of the CCTV of Sassoon Hospital.
Kumar told NDTV that the CMO and the teen accused's father spoke over the phone on the day of the accident following which the reports were believed to have been manipulated.
The teen accused was brought to Sasson Hospital for a medical examination after he allegedly killed two IT professionals riding in their motorcycle by his speeding Porsche in the early hours of May 19 in the Kalyani Nagar area of Maharashtra's Pune city.
According to the police, the teenager was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident and the manipulation of the report came to light when the police were waiting for the blood reports.
"A probe is underway on whose blood samples were collected to replace with that of the juvenile's. We have recovered CCTV footage of the Sassoon Hospital and further probe is on," Kumar said.
He also said that Indian Penal sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections have been added to the case in which the juvenile has been booked.
"We have made the juvenile's father co-accused in the present case," he said.
The teenager was initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board, which also asked him to write an essay on road accidents, but following outrage over the lenient treatment and a review application by the police, he was sent to an observation home till June 5.
The police have arrested the teenager's father, who is a realtor, and his grandfather in connection with the accident.
