In a shocking turn of events, Dr. Ajay Taware, the former medical superintendent of Sassoon General Hospital, who is already incarcerated in Yerawada Central Jail for his alleged involvement in the high-profile Porsche crash on May 19, 2024, has been arrested once again. This time, it’s in connection with a kidney transplant racket that dates back to 2022, in which he is accused of sanctioning illegal kidney transplants using fake identities and forged documents to sidestep stringent organ donation laws.
Before his entanglement in the Porsche case, Taware served as the head of the Regional Authorisation Committee for Organ Transplants (RACOT), a position he allegedly abused to approve these transplants. According to the police, Taware knowingly authorized fraudulent documents, allowing non-relatives to be presented as legitimate donors, thus enabling the illegal transplants to proceed.
The arrest stems from a swap kidney transplant at Ruby Hall Clinic on March 24, 2022, which fell apart when a woman admitted under a false identity created a scene at the hospital, revealing she was actually a widow from Kolhapur promised ₹15 lakh to pose as a relative. The investigation revealed that Taware’s approval was crucial in these transplants, raising serious questions about medical ethics and regulatory oversight.
Manipulated Blood Samples and Legal Action
Further investigations into Taware’s alleged misconduct reveal a disturbing pattern of malpractice, including his role in the Porsche crash investigation. Police claim that Taware orchestrated a blood sample swap at Sassoon General Hospital to shield the teenage driver involved in the fatal accident from drunk-driving charges.
According to reports, Taware instructed a junior doctor to discard the actual blood sample of the minor and replace it with his mother’s sample, thereby manipulating the test results. However, a separate DNA test later exposed this attempt at tampering. This case has added weight to the charges against Taware, who now faces accusations of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, and violations of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.
The kidney racket investigation, led by a state-appointed committee headed by former high court judge Sandip K. Shinde, has so far implicated at least seventeen individuals, including Ruby Hall Clinic doctors and management. Though the hospital maintains that all transplant protocols were followed under RACOT’s approval and that it promptly alerted the police when inconsistencies arose, questions remain about the integrity of the entire approval process. With a chargesheet already filed against seven accused from Ruby Hall and eight others granted bail, the case continues to unravel a troubling nexus of corruption, medical malpractice, and exploitation of vulnerable patients.