Mumbai: Police officers have drawn a blank while investigating the death of Rajesh Maru, who was sucked into the magnetic field of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at BYL Nair Hospital, due to lack of a CCTV camera near the MRI machine room and the doctors’ console room. The Agripada police have said they have to rely on statements of those involved in the January 27 incident, as there is no video evidence from the room.
The MRI area is located on the ground floor of the hospital’s new building. After entering through the main door, there is a small passage and then another door that leads to a space housing the machine room, console room and the cabin of the hospital’s radiology head, Devdas Shetty. This is the area from where Mr. Maru was sucked into the MRI machine room. “We have CCTV camera footage of the space outside, where we can see the relatives removing jewellery and watches. But there was no camera in the area where the incident took place,” said Manoj Hegishte, the investigating officer. The outside door also has bold warning signs like “no entry for wheelchair and trolley”, “magnet field is on” and “entry for radiologists only”.
Maru’s relatives have pointed out that the heavy metal door of the machine room was wide open when he walked in with the oxygen cylinder in his hands. He flew towards the machine in seconds, as soon as he came near the doorway. “The biggest mistake was that the ward boy allowed us to carry the oxygen cylinder. But when we walked inside, the accident could have been averted if the metal door had been closed,” said Maru’s relative Priyanka Solanki, who was also present when the incident took place.
The family was at the hospital for a brain scan on Ms. Solanki’s grandmother. According to Ms. Solanki, the cord that connected the cylinder to the patient snapped in a second when Maru was pulled in by the machine. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has appointed Deputy Municipal Commissioner (public health) Sunil Dhamne to investigate the incident. Mr. Dhamne said he is studying the statements of the accused and the eyewitnesses, and will be ready with the preliminary report in the next 10 days. “I have seen the CCTV footage from the passage outside. Since there is no audio, it is difficult to ascertain what exactly transpired between the relatives and the ward boy,” Mr. Dhamne said.
