Pune accident case: Doctor who changed blood sample of teen had changed sex of an accused in 2018

Accused, Dr Ajay Taware, HOD, Forensic Medicine Department

Pune doctor Ajay Taware, recently arrested for altering blood samples in Pune's Porsche car case, allegedly has a history of manipulating medical reports. A retired customs commissioner from Juhu has been pursuing a case against Dr Taware for three years, accusing him of falsifying a medical report in a cheating case against his son's in-laws, who allegedly hid the true gender of his daughter-in-law. The commissioner has also complained to the director general of police in Maharashtra, calling for an inquiry into Dr Taware and other doctors involved in altering his daughter-in-law's gender test report.

The complainant managed to obtain the medical reports from his daughter-in-law's birth, finding an entry in the birth register from 1984 in Aurangabad indicating she was born male. However, after 10 years, her family issued another birth certificate identifying her as female. Dr Taware, a former superintendent at Sassoon hospital in Pune, was involved in multiple cases of a kidney racket in 2022.

Speaking with mid-day, the retired customs commissioner said, "In 2013, we created a profile for my son on a matrimonial site. We found a doctor, met her and her family, and the marriage was fixed. They married in Delhi in 2013. However, on the first night, my daughter-in-law refused to have sex with my son and later refused to go on a honeymoon. She told my son that she doesn't like a man's touch. I checked her medical history and birth registry in Aurangabad and found she was born male on 25 October 1984."

He continued, "After 10 years, they issued a new birth certificate with ‘female' written on it. I found that my daughter-in-law is transgender. She left the house and filed a fake complaint of dowry and harassment against my family, demanding Rs 4.5 crore for settlement. I approached the Andheri magistrate court, which directed the police to register the case. They investigated but granted bail to my daughter-in-law and her family."

In 2018, the Andheri court ordered a gender test, which should have been done in Aurangabad. However, the test was conducted at Sassoon hospital in Pune, where a panel of experts, including Dr Taware, examined the daughter-in-law. The commissioner said, "Many tests in my case were conducted in a private lab, against the rules. Despite many complaints against Taware, nothing happened. Now, seeing his involvement in the Porsche case, I am sure he is a master at manipulating medical reports. If he can change the blood report of a 17-year-old who killed two people, he can manipulate the medical reports in my case too."

Kidney racket

In 2022, Dr Taware was temporarily suspended after a kidney racket was uncovered at Ruby Hall Clinic. A widow had complained about the illegal organ transplant scheme, which promised her Rs 15 lakh for her kidney. The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) directed Dr Taware to step down in April 2022 over alleged malpractice in the kidney transplant procedure. As the head of the hospital's forensics department, he was suspended by the regional organ transplant authority. Additionally, Dr Taware was briefly removed from his post after a patient died from multiple rat bites in the ICU at Sassoon hospital, Pune, following an inquiry.