Ruby Hall Clinic. (File)THE PUNE Police on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that at present, they were not inclined to arrest the six accused doctors booked for alleged malpractice during a kidney transplant conducted at Ruby Hall Clinic in March. However, in case the investigating agency wishes to take coercive action against urologist Himesh Gandhi, one of the accused, it will issue a 72-hour prior notice to the petitioners, the police said.
The HC was hearing pleas seeking to quash an FIR against him in a case in which an unrelated woman was allegedly presented as the organ receiver’s wife and promised Rs 15 lakh in return.
The case came to light on March 29 after the Kolhapur woman alleged that she was promised Rs 15 lakh by the middlemen for donating her kidney at Ruby Hall Clinic. When she did not get the money that had been allegedly promised to her, she approached the Koregaon Park police station. The Ruby Hall Clinic administration also filed a complaint accusing the woman of concealing her identity.
The FIR filed by Dr Sanjog Kadam states that the Moshi resident, his wife, the woman from Kolhapur, along with middlemen Gaikwad and Madne, presented forged documents to the hospital.
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A vacation bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Anil Pansare on May 17 was hearing writ petitions seeking quashing of the FIR against urologists Himesh Gandhi and Bhoopat Singh Bhati, deputy medical director Dr Rebecca John of the Hospital, transplant coordinator Surekha Joshi, legal advisor Manjusha Kulkarni and consulting nephrologist Dr Abhay Sadre.
Advocates Pushpa Ganediwala and Ashish Satpute, representing Gandhi, the petitioner, submitted that the FIR was vague and filed to wreak vengeance against their client and nothing had come up in the investigation to corroborate the alleged role of the petitioner. The petitioners, pending hearing, sought protection from coercive action.
Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna S Pai, on the instructions of the investigating officer, submitted that in case the investigating officer intends to proceed against the petitioners, a written notice of 72 hours shall be served on the latter before taking any coercive action against them.
The court accepted the submission and scheduled the next hearing on June 14.
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