Mumbai, April 8: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday targeted the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led MahaYuti government over the death of a pregnant woman, Tanisha Bhise, in Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital at Pune for alleged denial of treatment after demanding a deposit of Rs 10 lakh.

Aaditya has asked why the government is protecting trust and the hospital and not initiating action despite the inquiry committee citing non-compliance with the stipulated norms.

“Everybody is looking at whether Chief Minister Fadnavis will act against the trust and the agency running the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune that demanded 10 lakh rupees from the woman for delivery. Her inability to pay this ransom led to her demise,” said Aaditya in his post on ‘X’, a day after the consulting obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Sushrut Ghaisas resigned.

He said that the internal committee denied the charge (of demanding a deposit of Rs 10 lakh by DR Ghaisas), while on Monday, a doctor admitted and resigned from the administration.

“How can Punekars trust such a hospital that speaks two different things to save itself and not the patient? If the hospital was demanding ransom money, what about the hospital’s tax and municipal dues? It’s in crores! Will the agencies go knocking on the doors of the trustees and agencies running this hospital?” he questioned.

Aaditya further asked, “Who is running this hospital and why is it so influential that the Chief Minister has to defend it?”

Dr Ghaisas, who, after a check-up of Tanisha Bhise on a case paper demanded a deposit of Rs 10 lakh, resigned on Monday, citing intense public anger, social media backlash, and threat calls as reasons.

Tanisha Bhise later died at another facility after giving birth to twin daughters.

Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director of the hospital, told reporters: “In his resignation letter, Dr Ghaisas stated that he is under tremendous mental pressure due to public outrage, criticism and threats. He fears this will impact his ability to treat other patients and may also compromise the safety of his family. To avoid injustice to his work, he has decided to resign.”

He said that the hospital administration has forwarded the resignation to its trustees, and it is expected that it will be accepted, adding that Dr Ghaisas will complete his scheduled surgeries and work until Thursday.

Incidentally, the preliminary report prepared by the five-member inquiry committee chaired by Deputy Director Pune Circle Dr Radhakishan Pawar has blamed the hospital for the violation of provisions from the Hospitals Act by not giving primary treatment and later referring the case for further treatment.

The committee was established by the Public Health Department amid protests against the hospital.

According to the committee, the hospital has also violated the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, which clearly mentions that in an emergency, the Charitable Hospitals must attend to the patient immediately and provide essential medical facilities for all life-saving emergency treatment and procedure, and toll stabilisation.

Kolkata, April 8: The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday whether the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should probe the West Bengal cabinet, which approved the creation of supernumerary posts in state-run schools allegedly to accommodate “tainted” candidates getting teaching and non-teaching jobs against payment of money.

The opposition BJP had said in case the Supreme Court lifts the earlier interim stay on the CBI probe in the matter, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would also come under the purview of the probe since as the head of the cabinet she would not be able to avoid responsibility of the decision for creation of supernumerary posts.

The Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday, said that after Om Prakash Chautala of Haryana, Mamata Banerjee will be the second chief minister of an Indian state to be behind bars in an education scam.

In April 2024, a three-judge Bench of the apex court headed by the erstwhile Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, stayed an earlier order by the Calcutta High Court directing the CBI to undertake further investigations into the approval for supernumerary posts.

In that order, the Calcutta High Court also observed that the CBI, if necessary, will undertake the custodial interrogation of people involved in the matter.

While the stay by the apex court in April 2024 came as an interim relief for the state Cabinet, the matter will again come up for hearing at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In fact, the Calcutta High Court, while ordering the CBI probe into the matter earlier, also questioned the sanctity of the decision approving the creation of supernumerary posts.

Ever since information on the matter surfaced, the state government and the ruling party have come under scathing attacks from Opposition parties who claimed that the decision in the matter was not to accommodate genuine candidates but to protect the jobs of tainted ones.

Political observers feel that hearing in the matter (of the creation of supernumerary posts) has come at a double headache for the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress which are already strained by an apex court order last week. The Supreme Court upheld an earlier order of a division bench of the Calcutta High Court cancelling 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs in state-run schools.

Both the Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court had observed that the cancellation of the entire panel of 25,753 appointments was because of the failure of the state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to segregate the “genuine” candidates from “tainted” ones .

Chandigarh, April 7: A CBI court in Mohali on Monday sentenced Punjab’s former Senior Superintendent of Police Devinder Singh Garcha and former Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, Paramdip Singh Sandhu to five years of rigorous imprisonment each, in connection with the 2007 sex scandal in Moga.

Besides the imprisonment under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the court imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each.

Garcha and Sandhu were arrested and charged with blackmailing influential persons to extort money.

Former Inspector Amarjit Singh was sentenced to six-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 2.5 lakh, while former Sub-Inspector Raman Kumar was sentenced to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 3 lakh.

Both were found guilty of implicating prominent businessmen in a false gangrape case to extort money from them.

CBI Special Judge Rakesh Gupta pronounced the verdict after convicting Garcha, Sandhu, Raman Kumar, and Amarjit Singh under Sections 13(1) (D) and 13 (2) of the PC Act on March 29.

Besides corruption, Raman Kumar was also convicted of extortion, while Amarjit Singh was convicted of attempting extortion.

The CBI court acquitted Barjinder Singh, alias Makhan, the son of former Punjab minister Tota Singh, and Sukhraj Singh of all the charges.

The CBI took over the probe on the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s direction on December 11, 2007. A day later, the central probe agency registered a fresh FIR in the case.

The sex scandal involved high-profile politicians and senior police officials extorting rich people by trapping them in a flesh trade case.

As per the investigation, the accused public servants abused their positions and entered into a criminal conspiracy to obtain undue pecuniary gain by corrupt and illegal means.

According to the charge sheet, two women, including Manjit Kaur, in connivance with the police officers and Barjinder Singh, extorted money from influential people by threatening to frame them in sexual abuse cases if they refused to pay up.