As per police claims on May 28, there was ongoing communication between the father of the minor involved in the Porsche crash case and Dr. Ajay Taware from Sassoon government hospital after the Kalyani Nagar accident. Allegedly, Dr. Taware was the first to suggest that blood samples might have been swapped.
Both the teenager‘s father, Vishal Agarwal, and Dr. Taware have been arrested in connection with the May 19 accident where two IT professionals were killed.
Police stated that over a dozen calls were exchanged between Dr. Taware and Vishal Agarwal following the accident.
Dr. Taware, head of the hospital’s forensic medicine department, along with chief medical officer Dr. Shrihari Halnor and staff member Atul Ghatkamble, were arrested for allegedly discarding the minor’s blood samples and substituting them with samples devoid of alcohol.
Police are investigating whose blood samples were used for the swap and the financial incentive given to Dr. Taware. It is suspected that Dr. Halnor and Ghatkamble received a total of ₹3 lakh from Dr. Taware for the swap.
Dr. Taware is said to have proposed the idea of swapping blood samples, with police planning to invoke the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused doctors.
A committee investigating the blood sample manipulation visited Sassoon hospital to understand the process of blood sample collection and preservation.
Meanwhile, builder Vishal Agarwal, the minor’s father, was remanded in police custody till May 31 for pressuring their driver to take blame for the accident.
A letter from local NCP MLA Sunil Tingre to Maharashtra’s medical education minister Hasan Mushrif recommending Dr. Taware for additional duties as medical superintendent has resurfaced. Tingre clarified that such letters are issued with a note for action according to rules.
Questions arose over Tingre’s visit to the Yerawada police station after the accident. Police asserted that it did not influence the investigation.