Doc gets 3 years in jail for taking bribe to fudge report

Special Judge Padam Kant Saxena also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on Dr Manoj Nagpal,a former employee of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital.

As per the prosecution,complainant Vijay Kumar’s cousin Kuldeep Singh was riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by his acquaintance,Ajay Kumar,on April 28,2003. They met with an accident in which Kumar sustained injuries,and Singh died after being taken to the DDU Hospital.

His post-mortem examination was conducted by Dr Nagpal,and Kumar was informed that Singh had consumed alcohol. As Kumar was under the impression that his cousin never drank,he went to talk to Dr Nagpal about it on May 7,2003. However,a compounder gave him a slip with Nagpal’s telephone number and told him to call the doctor.

Dr Nagpal asked Kumar to meet him outside a restaurant in Prashant Vihar the same evening,where he asked Kumar to pay Rs 10,000 if he wanted him to write in the autopsy report that Singh had not consumed alcohol. Kumar lodged a complaint with the CBI,following which a trap was laid and Nagpal was caught.

“The evidence goes to show that there was a demand of bribe of Rs 10,000 by the accused from the complainant for not mentioning the presence of liquor in the post-mortem report of his cousin,Kuldeep Singh,” the judge said.

According to the testimony of the DDU medical superintendent,Nagpal was dismissed from service on May 19,2003,soon after the case was registered.