Medical officer suspended for helping ‘Ailing’ Bhujbal

A medical officer from the Arthur Road Jail who allegedly created documentation to facilitate former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s admission to St George's Hospital has been suspended from the post on Thursday.

Dr Rahul Ghule was found guilty in an internal police investigation as the former minister was given permission to visit only the Government Dental Hospital.

Sources have confirmed that Ghule played a vital role in creating documentation to facilitate Bhujbal's admission to St George Hospital, which was revealed during the investigation. Ghule allegedly booked an appointment for Bhujbal for a dental check-up and later, under the pretext of heart ailment admitted him to St George Hospital.

Rajendra Dhamne, Arthur Road Jail Superintendent, is slated to probe the matter in detail and submit a report to home department on Monday. “I submitted the report of my investigation to the department on Wednesday. Rahul Ghule alone has been fond guilty.

He has been removed from the post of the medical officer from the Arthur Road Jail and the health department will now look into the matter, said inspector general (prisons) Bipin Kumar Singh, who was given the responsibility of conducting a preliminary investigation into the incident.

The report has been submitted to additional DGP (prisons) B.K. Upadhyay who was on leave on Thursday and could not be contacted for comments.

An inquiry was ordered into the permission granted to Bhujbal on April 18 by prison authorities to visit the Government Dental College for treatment.

However, as it turned out, he was admitted to the St George's Hospital abutting the college after he complained of chest pain.

Bhujbal, who has been currently admitted at the Intensive Care Unit of the St George Hospital multi-speciality hospital showed signs of improvement on Thursday. The doctors are waiting to receive the test reports of JJ Hospital to decide on his treatment.

On April 18, he was admitted at the hospital after he complained of chest pain and high blood pressure that rose to 180/120. However, on Thursday, this blood pressure came down to 150/90.

He is stable now and his health condition has improved. We are waiting for some of the test reports from JJ Hospital, and then we will decide whether to shift him out of ICU or not, said Dr Rohan Sequera, head of medicine, at the hospital.

Despite repeated attempts to contact Dr Deepak Sawant did not reply to any of the messages by the publication regarding further procedures against Ghule.

On March 31, the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases in Mumbai had extended their judicial custody till April 27. ED has filed two FIRs against Chhagan Bhujbal, his family members and others under the anti-money laundering laws, based on FIRs filed by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau, to probe alleged irregularities in the construction of the state guest house 'Maharashtra Sadan' in Delhi and the Kalina land grabbing case in Mumbai.