AIIMS director moves HC against forensic head

The move by All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director, Dr MC Mishra, seeking permission from the Delhi High Court to replace forensic department head Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta has once again opened the Pandora’s Box in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case.

The director has sought the court’s permission to appoint Dr DN Bhardwaj as the new head of its forensic medicine and toxicology department. The court is slated to hear the matter 

on July 23.

Following the move, two doctors who conducted autopsy on Pushkar, wife of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, shot letters to the Health Minister JP Nadda, seeking his intervention and stopping their persecution for acting professionally in the case.

In his letter to <g data-gr-id="31">Nadda</g>, who is also president of the institute’s governing body, Gupta wrote: “I have been victimised by previous government and Dr MC Mishra, director, AIIMS, for taking a principled and professional stand in the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Shashi Tharoor. I was asked by Dr Mishra to give a post-mortem report of Pushkar as ‘natural death’, which was contrary to the findings. There are certain emails, which show the tacit understanding between director-AIIMS and 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.”

<g data-gr-id="27">Similar</g> allegation has been leveled by Dr Adarsh Kumar, who was secretary of the board, which conducted the autopsy. “I want to draw your attention and intervention that for more than one year, the department is in turmoil since the current HoD is not getting support from the office of director Dr MC Mishra.”