Dr Mukesh Shetye, a Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital nephrologist who is among the 15 accused arrested in the kidney-donation scam that was busted there in July, insisted in his statement to the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) that he was associated only with verbal briefing sessions conducted with transplant patients, but a key case witness has countered his claim.
Witness Sunder Singh, in his statement given to the Powai police, which is probing the scam, revealed that he met Dr Shetye along with another accused, Shobha Thakur, at least twice on different occasions in July to get donation-related documents signed by him. Singh, who in April, donated his kidney to a Delhi-based woman — Dimple Himmatranka — subsequently turned whistleblower after he realised he had been allegedly cheated by a case accused, middleman Baijendra Bisen, and certain doctors at the hospital. While undergoing the surgery at the hospital, a doctor had told him, “Like blood, your kidney will also grow back.” Singh, who was allegedly in constant touch with Bisen and another middle-agent Yusuf Diwan said in his chargesheet that he met Thakur for the first time when she came to the house he shared with Diwan in Dombivali, a suburb in the city.
Singh revealed in his statement that he accompanied Thakur a few times to the Powai-based hospital for some of her tests. “Before Thakur’s operation, I took her to the hospital and there I met with Nilesh Kamble. On one such occasion, Kamble asked us to get some signatures from Dr Shetye on some document. For the same, we visited Jupiter Hospital where we met the doctor and got his signatures,” he states.
In contrast, according to the report by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), which is included in the chargesheet, Dr Shetye denies having met them before the surgery.
“I met the donor (Shobha Thakur) in person somewhere in June for a detailed discussion,” he states. In the questionnaire, he does not reveal meeting Thakur and Singh, both before Thakur’s surgery.
