AIIMS doctor Adarsh Kumar, who conducted the autopsy on Sunanda Pushkar's body, has alleged that pressure was put on him and other doctors in the forensics department to pass off her death as 'natural'.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday said no extraneous pressure was ever put on its forensics department head, Dr Sudhir Gupta, with regard to his medical opinion and dismissed the allegations levelled by him against the institute as 'baseless'.
"There was no extraneous pressure ever put on Prof Sudhir Gupta with regard to his medical opinion in any case. The allegations levelled against the Institute by Prof Sudhir Gupta in media in this regard are baseless and denied," said AIIMS PRO Amit Gupta.
AIIMS doctor Adarsh Kumar, who conducted the autopsy on Sunanda Pushkar's body, has alleged that pressure was put on him and other doctors in the forensics department to pass off her death as 'natural'.
Dr Adarsh Kumar, along with Dr Shashank Puniya, was part of the team headed by HOD of forensics department Dr Sudhir K Gupta which conducted autopsy on the 52-year-old, a day after she was found dead in Hotel Leela Palace on January 17 last year. Dr Kumar was member secretary of the medical board that oversaw the autopsy.
In the final autopsy submitted to the Delhi Police in September last year, the team had claimed that Sunanda's death occured due to poisoning.
Dr Kumar made the allegations in a letter to Union Health Minister JP Nadda, adding that the team had not succumbed to pressure.
The senior doctor also alleged that AIIMS director Dr MC Mishra had been uncooperative with the forensic department.
Dr Sudhir Gupta echoed similar views. "Dr MC Mishra is not cooperating with me as well as with my department since the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar last year."
Dr Gupta too had written a letter to Nadda in which he alleged that Dr MC Mishra had put pressure on him to submit a "tailor-made autopsy report" in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case.
"I was asked by Dr MC Mishra to give a post mortem report of late Sunanda Pushkar as natural death, which was contrary to the findings. There are certain emails between Director AIIMS and Sashi Tharoor for making tailor-made post mortem report. But I did not succumb to the pressure and given the factual report as an upright official," he wrote.
Dr Gupta had earlier approached the Central Administrative Tribunal alleging that AIIMS had illegally purged his seniority with "malafide intention" and one Dr OP Murty was promoted to punish him for refusing to act unprofessionally in the Sunanda case.
When the CAT rejected his charge, Dr Gupta approached the Delhi High Court for relief. The HC asked the Institute not to replace him without its permission. Subsequently, AIIMS has asked for such permission on Tuesday. AIIMS director Dr MC Mishra has filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court seeking removal of Dr Gupta as head of the forensics department.
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