2 docs fined Rs 1.4 cr for sheltering ex-MLA

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

The Supreme Court today imposed a fine of Rs 70 lakh each on two doctors of a private hospital in Gurugram who helped former Indian National Lok Dal MLA Balbir Singh (alias Bali Pehalwan) evade jail in a murder case despite cancellation of his bail.

A Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra ordered Dr KS Sachdev and Dr Munish Prabhakar to deposit the money with the Supreme Court’s Registry by the end of June 2017.

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It directed the Registry to deposit the Rs 1.4 crore received from the two doctors in a fixed deposit and asked senior counsel VK Bali to suggest how to utilise the money for providing medical facilities to the poor and underprivileged. It fixed the matter for further hearing on this aspect on July 6.

Complainant’s counsel Rishi Malhotra demanded the hospital’s licence be cancelled. Malhotra said providing “medical asylum” to accused politicians was being a trend and the doctors and the hospital must be given harsh punishment. But the court didn’t accept it.

The top court had on December 22, 2016, held the duo guilty of contempt of court for helping murder accused Bali Pehalwan—an MLA from Meham—evade going to jail despite his bail having been cancelled by it.

On Tuesday, Sachdev and Prabhakar tendered unconditional apology to the court.

A CBI probe had found that murder accused Bali Pehalwan was admitted to the hospital on 47 occasions when he was to be in jail. While admitted to the hospital, he was allowed to move out without any medical professional justifying such movement. He never paid the hospital for his 527-day stay, the CBI probe revealed.

He did not undergo any laboratory test and there was no reason to keep him as an indoor patient, the CBI had told the top court, adding there was a regular stream of visitors during his stay in the hospital.

Pehalwan was accused of kidnapping and murdering one Vishnu—a businessman from Rohtak in Haryana on May 6, 2011. The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail. However, the Supreme Court cancelled his bail on October 24, 2013, after the victim’s brother challenged it.

Pehalwan was required to surrender after cancellation of his bail by the top court. But instead, he was sheltered by the two doctors at a private hospital in Gurugram.

Between November 2013 and May 2014, the trial court issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest on five occasions, but he chose not to respond to them.

“This shows that the illness as projected was not serious at all and no intensive treatment as indoor patient was required or called for,” the court – which had also slammed the state police – had noted.