New Delhi: AIIMS has denied the claims of the head of its forensic department Dr Sudhir Gupta that due to vested interests, he was forced to say the death of Sunanda Pushkar was "natural". The hospital authorities have termed the allegations as false and fabricated. A meeting of the officials as currently underway and are scheduled to address the press at 4 pm on Wednesday.
Dr Sudhir Gupta, who headed the team of forensic experts that conducted the postmortem of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar, said that there is a malafide agenda to oust him from his position for taking a "professional position which went against vested interests."
"I was under pressure not to speak on autopsy details without discussing with top quarters of government. As a medical practitioner, I thought it is unfair to change my view on any autopsy. I gave correct statement to media after autopsy and was not biased. I gave representation to minister to save myself from departmental politics," he said.
He also filed an affidavit before the Central Administrative Tribunal where he has claimed that he was illegally punished for refusing to act un-professionally in the Sundanda Pushkar autopsy matter. He has also claimed that Tharoor had sought a tailor-made autopsy report from the AIIMS director.
He added that the then President of AIIMS in connivance with the Director had decided to illegally purge his seniority and promoted OP Murthy.
In his letter to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Dr Gupta has claimed that an illegal order has been passed to oust him from the post of HOD and promote a fellow doctor of the same department for "taking a professional stand in the Sunanda Pushkar and Nido Tania case which went against the vested interest of certain persons in AIIMS."
Seeking details of the case, the Health Minister said, "I have asked the director of AIIMS to send me a detailed report in this matter." he also added that Dr Gupta's complaint was about a seniority issue in his department. "I don't remember him having made any allegations that he is making right now. I have requested the AIIMS director to give me a detailed report. I don't know his allegations, I receive lots if representations every day. But now we are looking into it, " Harsh Vardhan said while refusing to comment on the issue of a possible cover up.
However, the police indicate that the statement might not have an impact on the investigation as the doctor has said that though there was pressure on him, he did not change his stand. "If it is necessary to examine Dr. Gupta then he will be examined. We will be conducting enquiries based in the relevance of the evidence. This is a new development in the case. If we find that the affidavit has to be brought into record then we will do that," Delhi Commissioner of Police BS Bassi said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been briefed by the Delhi CP.
While Tharoor has refused to comment on the claims of Dr Gupta, sources close to him say that he is distressed that a personal tragedy is sought to be exploited in an internal administrative dispute in AIIMS. From the moment of the tragedy, he has called for a thorough investigation by the authorities to be conducted rapidly so as to put all this speculation to test, add sources. Sunanda's family, too, shares the same view.
Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi's Leela Hotel in January 2014. Her forensic report had said that her death was unnatural and sudden and claimed that there was some poisonous substance was found in her body.
Comments
0 comment