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Two 'India Today' stories tell a fascinating story of alleged corruption implicating a prominent family and high level forensic authorities.
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FIRST STORY: India Today: May 24, 2024.
The first, published on May 24, 2024, sets out the basic facts of a motor vehicle incident. On May 19, a 17-year-old teenage boy was allegedly driving a Porsch that rammed into a bike, immediately killing two people. The teen happens to be son of a prominent real estate developer. The Pune Police Commissioner announced at a press conference that an attempt had been made to shield the boy from culpability by pressuring the family driver to say he was driving the car and therefore responsible for the accident. As 'India Today' reports: "There was an attempt to show that the accused was not driving the vehicle and someone else was driving, but they couldn't do that," Amitesh Kumar said. "We will take action under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) against those persons who tried to show that the accused juvenile was not driving the car and some adult driver was behind the wheels," the Pune police chief said." (How did the police know that the family had pinned blame on its driver? HL)" India Today: " The police chief said CCTV footage showed the vehicle was taken out by the accused from his residence. "On the basis of technical and CCTV evidence, it is confirmed that the car was being driven by the juvenile," he said." In an interesting 'footnote' to the story, the paper also reports that the police commissioner also dismissed the opposition's allegations that the 17-year-old boy was served "pizzas and burgers" in custody following the incident which led to the deaths of two young IT professionals - Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta. "Amid an outrage over the incident, a Pune court cancelled the bail granted to the teen and ordered him to be sent to a juvenile centre." The story is far from over at this point as the reader will see from reading the following post:
pune-porsche-crash-police-commissioner-accused-full-senses-aware-of-situation-2543256-2024-05-24
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THE SECOND STORY: India Today: May 29: 2024.
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Before the minor's blood samples were collected, real estate developer and the teen driver's father, Vishal Agarwal, communicated with Dr Taware via WhatsApp, and FaceTime calls, as well as a single general call, police sources said, adding that there were 14 such calls in total. The calls were made between 8.30 am and 10.40 am on May 19 and the blood samples were taken at 11 am. The two doctors were arrested after the police said the teen's original blood sample was disposed of in a dustbin. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report showed no alcohol in the first blood sample, which raised suspicions. Later, a second blood test conducted at a different hospital and DNA tests confirmed the samples were from two different individuals. This led investigators to suspect that the doctors at the Sassoon General Hospital had tampered with the evidence to protect the accused juvenile."
STORY "Pune hospital's action against doctors who 'switched' teen driver's blood sample, by Reporter Divyesh Singh, published by India Today, on May 29, 2024."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Vishal Agarwal and the minor's grandfather, Surendra Agrawal, are under custody until May 31."
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SUB-HEADING: "Dr Shrihari Halnor, who has been accused of manipulating the Pune teen driver's blood sample, was sacked by the city-based Sassoon Hospital."
SUB-HEADING: "Shrihari Halnor and two others were arrested on Monday for tampering with evidence in the accident case."
In Short
- Chief Medical Officer Dr Shrihari Halnor dismissed by Sassoon Hospital
- Forensic Medicine department head Dr Ajay Taware suspended
- Dean Dr Vinayak Kale sent on compulsory leave
GIS: "Dr Shrihari Halnor, who has been accused of manipulating the blood sample of the teen driver involved in the horrific May 19 accident in Pune, was sacked by the city-based Sassoon General Hospital.
Dr Halnor, the chief medical officer of the state-run hospital where the minor was taken for medical tests after the accident, was arrested on Monday.
Besides Halnor, Dr Ajay Taware, head of the hospital's Forensic Medicine department, and a staffer, Atul Ghatkamble, were also arrested. The hospital has suspended Dr Taware.
According to the police, Dr Halnor, who had taken the blood sample from the juvenile, revealed that he had changed the blood sample on the directions of Dr Taware.
THe Sassoon Hospital also took action against the Dean, Dr Vinayak Kale. He has been sent on compulsory leave in the wake of the developments.
The three arrested men are in police custody until Thursday.
The doctor's suspension came a day after it was reported that he allegedly received Rs 3 lakh from Ghatkamble, who worked under Taware.
The men confessed to accepting the money after the police carried out a search and seized the cash from the premises of their official residences, according to police sources.
Of the total amount, the Pune Crime Branch recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Halnor and the remaining Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble.
However, there was no immediate information on how or where the cash was procured from.
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MINOR'S FATHER AND DR TAWARE
Before the minor's blood samples were collected, real estate developer and the teen driver's father, Vishal Agarwal, communicated with Dr Taware via WhatsApp, and FaceTime calls, as well as a single general call, police sources said, adding that there were 14 such calls in total.
The calls were made between 8.30 am and 10.40 am on May 19 and the blood samples were taken at 11 am.
The two doctors were arrested after the police said the teen's original blood sample was disposed of in a dustbin.
The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report showed no alcohol in the first blood sample, which raised suspicions.
Later, a second blood test conducted at a different hospital and DNA tests confirmed the samples were from two different individuals. This led investigators to suspect that the doctors at the Sassoon General Hospital had tampered with the evidence to protect the accused juvenile.
Vishal Agarwal and the minor's grandfather, Surendra Agrawal, are under custody until May 31."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan:Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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