“I am going to seek before the court that Dr T.P. Lahane should be immediately removed from the medical management team of Chhagan Bhujbal. I am also going to seek the investigation of the role of Arthur Road prison superintendent Haridas Ahirrao in the matter,” Anjali Damania, the activist who has filed an application in a Mumbai court, told The Sunday Guardian.
“Someone has to be held responsible for this. Is this not granting preferential treatment to him? The Enforcement Directorate team must have seen for themselves during their surprise visit. He cannot leave the prison for three small tests which can be done within 48 hours at the OPD, and stay out of jail for 40 days. This means, there is either laxity or negligence on the part of the officials, or there is connivance. Either of the two is bad,” she said.
On the intervention application filed by an activist, a Mumbai court is expected to pass an order on 22 December. The intervenor has sought action against Chhagan Bhujbal, the jail superintendent of Arthur Road prisons and the Dean of JJ Hospital, Dr T.P. Lahane. Dr Lahane recently filed a reply before the court washing his hands of the matter.
He has stated that after Bhujbal’s tests at the JJ Hospital were completed, he was discharged and handed over to the jail superintendent. He has further claimed that Bhujbal was taken to Bombay Hospital through the jail superintendent.
“The Dean JJ Hospital has not misused or breached the order of the Honourable Court and there is no lapse on my part in the treatment of said prisoner,” Dr Lahane has said in his reply filed before the court on 14 December.
But Damania said that the hospital authorities and the jail authorities were trying to push the blame on each other now.
The court had ordered on Wednesday that Bhujbal should be immediately transferred to the Arthur Road Prison. Bhujbal has been advised angiography by medical experts. The court has said he should also decide on the date of angiography.
The former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra had even sought bail on medical grounds in the past. It was rejected.
“I am going to seek from the court that from now on, whenever Bhujbal complains of anything, he should first be thoroughly checked by an expert team of five doctors, before sending him out of the prison,” Anjali Damania told The Sunday Guardian.
On 27 October this year, the special court under PMLA had allowed Bhujbal to get three tests done — Holter Monitorting, Thallium Scan and Electro Physiological Study. “Before this, he was already out of the prison from 17 September to 12 October, claiming that he had dengue and high fever. After querying the authorities, he was sent to prison on 12 October. Then, on 22 October, Dr Lahane says that it is necessary to do a few more tests. On 28 October, he is moved out of the prison and taken to JJ Hospital. On 2 November, he is discharged from JJ Hospital, and a note is handed over to PSI Hule who is accompanying him. The note says, ‘Referred to Bombay Hospital for cardiac opinion and treatment.’ This is against the court order. The court had never allowed for treatment. The court only allowed for the three tests to be done,” Damania said.