Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The three-member medical panel at AIIMS, chaired by head of forensics Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta, has maintained its stand from the initial report on January 20 last year that poisoning was the cause of Sunanda Pushkar’s death. The panel sent Delhi Police three reports and a series of clarifications, the last on December 29.
Speaking to the media on January 19, immediately after conducting the autopsy, Dr Gupta had called the death sudden and unnatural, mentioning that circumstantial evidence including strips of empty alprazolam tablets near the body, indicated alprazolam poisoning. On Tuesday, after the police registered a murder FIR, Dr Gupta refused comment.
The viscera was sent to the CFSL for testing after the first AIIMS report came back negative for alprazolam and other poisons. In the final post-mortem report submitted to the Delhi police on September 30, the AIIMS medical board maintained that the cause of death was poisoning, but stated they “reserved the opinion on specific poison/chemical since there is a lot of limitation on the viscera report”.
The report maintained that Pushkar “was neither ill nor had any disease prior to her death” and “was a normal healthy individual”. It also clarified that she was “thoroughly investigated for autoimmune/connective tissue disorders” including “Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)”, and that “however she was not found to be suffering from LUPUS.”
The viscera findings, sources said, identified only traces of eythl alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen (a paracetamol) and cotinine (an alkali found in tobacco), none of which the doctors have said can be related to the cause of death.
The AIIMS doctor also locked horns with the institute administration in May, days before the formation of the new government, when he filed an affidavit in CAT, contesting the promotion of a department colleague and alleging that he was pressured in the Sunanda Pushkar case.
The case was mentioned for the first time only in the rejoinder to Dr Gupta’s original affidavit, filed on June 26. Dr Gupta alleged the institute was acting “at the instance of its former president with malafide intention to punish” him for “refusing to act unprofessionally in Pushkar autopsy matter.
“Dr Gupta’s original affidavit filed in May and his representation to the then health minister Azad, and AIIMS director Dr M C Misra on May 6, only elaborate his views on why his department colleague was not eligible for the promotion, with no reference to the Pushkar case.
In a complaint filed before the CVC on May 27, after the new government took over, he alleged an “illegal, politically motivated agenda to oust me from the post of HoD since I have taken an honest and ethical stand in cases of post-mortem such as in cases of Sunanda Pushkar… .” In his letter sent to new health minister and AIIMS president Dr Harsh Vardhan, Dr Gupta has again mentioned both the cases.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
