The Sassoon Hospital Dean Dr Vinayak Kale sent on leave on Wednesday by Medical Education, Government of Maharashtra amid an uproar over allegations that blood samples from a juvenile involved in a fatal Porsche crash were tampered with. Dr. Chandrakant Mhaske, dean of Ahilya Devi Holkar Government Medical College in Baramati, has been given additional charge of Sassoon Hospital.
The action follows the arrests of Dr. Ajay Taware, head of the hospital's forensic medicine department, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shrihari Halnor and staff member Atul Ghatkamble. They are accused of replacing the blood samples of the 17-year-old driver, allegedly drunk at the time of the crash, with those of another person showing no signs of alcohol.
Two IT professionals in their 20s were killed when their motorcycle was struck by the speeding Porsche on May 19 in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area. The driver is the son of builder Vishal Agarwal.
This is not the first time a hospital administrator has faced consequences in Pune. Last year, Dr. Sanjiv Thakur was removed as dean of BJ Medical College (BJMC) by the medical education department following the escape of drug dealer Lalit Patil from Sassoon Hospital.