The Prisons Department has submitted a report of its inquiries into the admission of arrested politician Chhagan Bhujbal to St George Hospital, and the allegations of corruption at the Arthur Road Jail, which were made by Dr. Rahul Ghule, who was held responsible for misconduct in the matter.
In April, Mr. Bhujbal, who is currently in judicial custody after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, was admitted to St George Hospital for multiple health complications, instead of the JJ Hospital, where he should have been taken as per the prisons rules.
Dr. Ghule, who was the medical officer at Arthur Road, was removed from his post three days later for allegedly fudging Mr. Bhujbal’s papers and facilitating his admission to St George. He later made allegations about systematic and widespread corruption at Arthur Road.
Sources confirmed to The Hindu that while the inquiry has not found any substance in Dr. Ghule’s allegations, the Prisons Department has still recommended that Superintendent Bharat Bhosale, currently in charge of Arthur Road, be shifted for ‘lapses in supervision of day-to-day working’.
Two separate inquiries were being conducted into the matter. While the allegations of corruption were being probed by Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Rajendra Dhamane, the incident involving Mr. Bhujbal was being investigated by a vigilance team at Arthur Road. Last week, the inquiries were completed and a report was sent to the State government by Additional Director General (Prisons) Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay.
“The inquiries did not find any evidence pointing towards favouring of prisoners in exchange for money at Arthur Road. However, it was found that there were several lapses in procedure and supervision in the daily working, including on the day that Mr. Bhujbal was admitted to St George, and that this might have been prevented had procedures been duly followed. Based on these findings, a recommendation has been made that Mr. Bhosale be transferred from his current post. It has been further recommended that he be transferred to the Thane central jail,” said a source.
When contacted, Dr. Upadhyay confirmed that the Prisons Department had sent its report on the inquiries, but declined to go into details. “We have sent the report to the State government, but the contents are confidential.”
