They say referring the case to Mumbai’s KEM Hospital instead of medical college in Pune is going to help Pol’s defence
Forensic experts at BJ Medical College in Pune are irked that the police, in its handling of victims of Santosh Pol aka Satara’s Dr Death, has violated a 1998 government resolution which demarcates the medical colleges where specimen should be sent for testing. They have added that unless rectified, this will ultimately benefit the accused during his trial. Currently, KEM Hospital is handling the forensic evidence in the case.
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Santosh Pol
Dr Naresh Zanjad, Associate Professor and acting HoD of forensic medicine and toxicology at BJ Medical College, said, “As a matter of practice, the police from three districts refer autopsies and forensic and anatomy examinations to state-rum medical colleges. This is the first time I have seen the local police bypassing medical college guidelines,” adding, “As per the norms, we cannot visit the crime scene until the local police intimates us. On Sunday, I was surprised to see that the KEM team was stationed in Wai.”
“I phoned IG Vishwas Nangare Patil, and appraised him of the GR,” said Dr Zanjad, adding, “However, after a follow-up call, I haven’t heard back. The accused will reap benefit during the trial, as the team from Mumbai has no locus standi to intervene.”
Meanwhile, late on Monday night, the skeletal remains were brought to KEM post-mortem centre and a team of forensic experts started their examination.
When contacted, Bipin Bihari, additional director general of police (special operation) said, “I will ask the IG to have a look and get the issue resolved.”
Voice of dissent
Additionally, it has now come to light that a senior IPS officer had cautioned the local police about this same conundrum. Speaking to mid-day on condition of anonymity, he said, “It was an open-and-shut case. All that the local police had to do was send the sample for analysis to confirm if it was human remains and get DNA matches. But with the matter being referred to Mumbai, it is only being complicated further.”
The other side
When asked, superintendent of police (Satra) Sandip Patil said, “Satara’s civil surgeon Dr Srikant Boi said he doesn’t know anyone from BJ Medical College. Since we had seen the working of KEM forensic team earlier, we decided to call them in. Also, a forensic team can come from anywhere; we have seen cases where opinions are sought from experts abroad.”
As for benefiting the accused, Patil refutes the claim and says, “I do not think this would hamper our investigation or even the trial. The GR doesn’t specify what samples.”
When contacted, Dr Bhoi, said, “I was told by the police that the KEM forensic team would determine the cause of death so I had no reason to say no. But if the GR is being violated, I will speak to the police officials and ask them to send the samples back.”
Experts chime in
Turns out, experts agree that the GR violation may hamper the trial. When asked, Dr SM Patil, police surgeon, said, “As per the GR, the mortal remains should be sent to the concerned medical college or else the findings can be questioned in the trial.”
Dr Manish B Shrigiriwar, the state officer on special duty in Nagpur, said, “The GR is dated 1998 and has not been amended. A debate needs to be carried out if civic hospital doctors from other cities can be called in for examination.”
Senior advocate Majeed Memon also said, “If an investigating agency, at the very outset of a sensational case investigation commits error advertently or otherwise, it is going to go a long way and adversely affect the creditability of the materials collected, as also its own bonafide.”
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