The Pune Police have arrested a third individual for the alleged manipulation of the blood sample of the teenager accused of fatally knocking down two people in the early hours of May 19 in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune city.
The arrested accused has been identified as Atul Ghatkamble, an employee of Sassoon Hospital. Earlier in the day, the police had arrested Dr Ajay Tawade, head of the forensic lab, and Dr Hari Harnor, of Pune's Sasoon General Hospital for allegedly switching the blood sample of the accused with another.
According to the police, the blood samples of the 17-year-old boy were replaced with another person's samples on the directions of a doctor from the Sassoon General Hospital. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told reporters that the juvenile's father had called the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples. After the switch was made, the report from the hospital showed no traces of alcohol.
Kumar said they have arrested Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon General Hospital's Forensic Medicine department, and Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer of the state-run hospital. "It has been revealed in the investigation that the blood samples of the juvenile were replaced with some other person's samples and this was done on the direction of Dr Taware," he said.
Kumar 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 said.
He added the doctors were unaware that the police had collected another sample of the accused. "A probe is underway on whose blood samples were collected to replace with that of the juveniles. We have recovered CCTV footage of the Sassoon Hospital and further probe is on," Kumar said.
Kidnapping case
The Pune court allowed the police to take custody of the teen's father Vishal Agarwal, who is currently lodged in the Yerwada Central Jail, in connection with the case of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of his driver.
Agarwal is an accused in a case registered against him and the managers and owners of two pubs under the Juvenile Justice Act. The Pune police had moved an application for a production warrant of the father in the kidnapping and wrongful confinement case. "The court has allowed the application for the production warrant of the juvenile's father, and he will be taken into custody from the jail," said a police officer from Pune police.
Two IT professionals died after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by the minor in the early hours of May 19 in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune city.