State govt forms 4-member panel to probe Sassoon drugs case, gives 15-day deadline to submit report
A four-member committee has been formed by the Maharashtra government to investigate the escape of drug peddler Lalit Patil from Sassoon General Hospital. The committee has been given 15 days to submit a detailed report on the incident.
PUNE A four-member committee was constituted by the state government on Wednesday to probe the incident which led to the escape of drug peddler Lalit Patil from Sassoon General Hospital.
Patil, an undertrial prisoner serving imprisonment at Yerawada Jail, was admitted to Sassoon for medical treatment of tuberculosis and hernia. However, on October 2, Patil managed to flee from the hospital.
The committee, as per the notification issued by the Department of Medical Education of the Maharashtra government, will be headed by Dr Dilip Mhaisekar, director, Medical Education and Research, Mumbai. Other members include Dr Sudhir Deshmukh, superintendent, Government Medical College, Solapur; Dr Hemant Godbole, professor and medico-legal department head, Government Medical College, Nanded and Dr Eknath Pawar, professor and department head, orthopaedic sciences, Grant Medical College.
The notification signed by deputy secretary Prakash Suravase has asked the committee to submit a detailed report on the Sassoon drugs case to the government within 15 days.
“We will visit the hospital and find out more details. I will get the order in my hand tomorrow and thereafter action in terms of work will begin,” Dr Mhaisekar.
Sassoon Hospital and its administration have been in the docks over the escape of drug kingpin Patil and the role of a serving minister in his admission has also been brought into light by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare.
The administration has received flak from several quarters of civil society including MLA Ravindra Dhangekar and a petition has been filed by Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Shishir Hiray to probe the official nexus allegedly helping criminals evade the law without any fear of enforcement agencies.
