NGO accuses ‘fit’ Chhagan Bhujbal of overstaying at state hospital

A city-based non-government organisation has shot off a letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asking why former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal continued to be kept at the state-run J.J. Hospital when he was stable and not suffering from dengue.

Mr Bhujbal, an accused in the alleged money laundering case in March 2016, was taken to J.J. Hospital from Arthur Road Jail for suspected dengue after his health worsened on September 17.

The NGO called “Society for Awareness of Civil Rights” on Saturday wrote a letter to the chief minister, governor, state medical education minister and chief secretary of the state regarding Mr Bhujbal’s prolonged stay in the hospital.

The letter reads: “No doubt sinister plot brewing polluted by an anarchist, the dean of J.J. Hospital. Suspend him immediately. Institute summary enquiry at the hands of a sitting high court judge on circumstances that required shifting of Mr Bhujbal out of prison on feigned illness to J.J. for treatment, over stay.”

R.P. Yajurvedi Rao, president, Society for Awareness of Civil Rights, said, “Plenty of VIP visitors allowed to meet a ‘jail bird’ not even during visiting hours. If the immunology test for ‘Dengue’ was termed negative, the patient should not have even been admitted to the hospital. The test could have been performed by drawing a blood sample from jail by jail staff.”

However, J.J. Hospital dean, Dr T.P. Lahane, said, “Mr Bhujbal has severe health disorders; he has cardiac aliments.

His muscles are swollen and his pulse is low. If an emergency occurs, how do we tackle it so he is kept under observation.”