The reverse journey of Dr Ajay Taware- From Pune Porsche to Kidney Transplant…

On 19 May 2024, Vedant Agarwal, aged 17 years, killed two motorbike riders in a car collision in the Kalyani Nagar neighbourhood of Pune, Maharashtra, India. On 27 May, two senior doctors Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Srihari Halnor from the Sassoon Hospital involved in the case for investigation, were arrested for replacing blood samples taken from the accused 17 year old.

One year after the case, the same doctor, Ajay Taware, is now arrested in Kidney Transplant Racket. 

The city crime branch has now taken him into custody in connection with the 2022 kidney transplant racket at the Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, a leading private hospital. In 2022, Taware was head of the Regional Authorisation Committee that approved kidney transplants. The Pune police in May 2022 registered a case against 15 people, including the managing trustee of the Ruby Hall Clinic and some of their employees, in connection with an alleged malpractice during a kidney transplant procedure in March that year.

What is the kidney transplant case/scam?

In March 2022, a kidney swap transplant was performed at Ruby Hall Clinic, involving a woman named Sarika Sutar from Kolhapur. She was allegedly promised ₹15 lakh to pose as the wife of recipient Amit Salunkhe and donate her kidney. However, after the transplant, she did not receive the promised payment and subsequently filed a complaint. Investigations revealed that the transplant was approved based on forged documents and fraudulent identities.

Dr Ajay Taware, enjoying the then position of the head of the Regional Authorization Committee responsible for approving such transplants, was implicated for allegedly approving the procedure despite discrepancies in documentation. He was arrested on 29.5.2025, and remanded to police custody until June 2 for further investigation.

The fraudulent cases against Dr Ajay Taware are not only limited to 2. History says he is a repeated offender. 

Rat bite incident from April 2024.

Just a month ago from the Pune porsche case, a rat bite incident also involved the fraudulent and negligent activity of Dr Ajay Taware. 

DMER director Dilip Mhaisekar told one of the news outlet that Maharashtra government’s Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) had recommended Dr Taware’s removal as the superintendent of Sassoon hospital in the past, while questioning his role during an alleged kidney racket case in 2022 and a rat bite case reported in April 2024. Despite their action, Dr Taware was brought back as the superintendent by hospital dean Vinayak Kale. Dr Kale needs to answer on whose orders from the govt he brought back Dr Taware,” said Mhaisekar.

2008 Allegation of Post-Mortem Report Manipulation

In 2008, a relative of an accident victim alleged that Dr. Taware demanded ₹1 lakh to manipulate the post-mortem report, which originally indicated that the victim had consumed alcohol. This complaint was raised last year as well during the Pune Porsche case by The BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital workers’ union who have levelled a series of allegations against Dr Ajay Taware.

Workers’ union’s deputy chairperson Sudhakar Panikar showed several such letters and complaints against Taware. “Taware is also accused of often barging into the women’s hostel under the pretense of inspection in the middle of the night.” However, no action was taken against Taware, he said. “He was in fact promoted as the medical superintendent in 2015 despite serious complaints against him since 2008.” This shows that a plethora of complaints was brought to the attention of the dean of B.J. Medical College, but no action was taken at the time. 

Panikar also displayed a letter written by the then joint director, medical education and research, Mumbai, and dated June 9, 2008, to dean asking for an inquiry against Taware. “A private hospital in Hadapsar has complained against Taware for misbehaviour and seeking bribe when he was a lecturer of forensic science at the medical college. A detailed inquiry into this matter should be undertaken and a report should be submitted,” the letter said.

Alleged Misconduct in Gender Report Manipulation

Dr. Taware was also accused of manipulating a gender test report in a marital dispute case. A retired customs commissioner has alleged that Dr Ajay Taware, arrested in the Porsche crash case in Pune, had manipulated the gender test report of the former’s daughter-in-law in a marital dispute six years ago. He filed a complaint against Taware and others with the Medical Council of India as well as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra but no action was taken, he said. The customs official’s son got married in 2013, but his daughter-in-law refused to have sexual relations with her husband, he said.

When he checked her medical history and birth certificate at Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), her birthplace, the official found that she was born a male in 1984. After ten years, the municipal corporation issued a new birth certificate mentioning her gender as female. The daughter-in-law filed a case of dowry harassment against the family and the matter landed in a court in Andheri here.

In 2018, the court ordered a gender test of the woman. It was conducted at Sassoon Hospital in Pune, and a medical panel which included Dr Taware gave a report in February 2019 that she was “phenotypically and genotypically female”, the official said. The test should have been conducted in Aurangabad, not in Pune, and Dr Taware manipulated the report, he claimed.

Controversial Role in Dr. Narendra Dabholkar’s Post-Mortem (PM)

Dr Ajay Taware conducted the PM of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a prominent rationalist and anti-superstition activist who was assassinated a decade ago, in 2013. During the trial of the case, the defense raised questions about the integrity of the PM report, alleging that crucial evidence was omitted or mishandled. The defence attorney had clearly demonstrated to the Court that many facts were concealed in the post-mortem report.

For instance, the post-mortem report did not mention the wounds shown by Dr Dabholkar’s relatives, that were on his right knee and foot. This point was deleted by Dr Taware. Dr Dabholkar’s body was photographed before the post-mortem. A long hair was seen on Dr Dabholkar’s neck. When this hair was shown to Dr Taware in the Court, he said that it was a thread and not a hair. Dr Taware had not preserved this critical evidence.

Dr Taware accepted during the cross examination in the Court, that rules of post-mortem were not followed during the post-mortem. The video recording of the post-mortem was not continuous, instead there were breaks in it. Question is raised if Dr Taware was responsible for this decision. There were many more possibilities about Dr Dabholkar’s murder. If the post-mortem had been done correctly, several other things would have come to light during the investigation. But it did not happen because of the suspicious post-mortem report given by Dr Taware. It must be said that important evidence in this murder investigation was destroyed because of the conscious omissions of the details by Dr Taware in his report.

These incidents collectively highlight a pattern of alleged unethical practices associated with Dr. Ajay Taware.

Moreover, it may be recalled that Dr Taware, who had been medical superintendent for approximately eight years, was instructed by the DMER to step down from his post in 2022 following alleged malpractice in the kidney transplant procedure. The regional organ transplant authorisation committee was then temporarily suspended. In the past three years, at least five medical superintendents have taken charge since Dr Taware was asked to step down.

Dr Vijay Jadhav, who was given the charge, was replaced by Dr Bharati Daswani in July 2022. Later Dr Vijay Jadhav was again given the charge in March 2023 but was soon replaced by Dr Yellappa Jadhav. He was replaced by Dr Sunil Bhamre in August 2023. Barely was he given the charge for a month or so when Dr Kiran Kumar Jadhav was asked to take over as medical superintendent during the tenure of the then dean, Dr Sanjeev Thakur, who has been removed from the post over the sensational escape of drug cartel kingpin Lalit Patil.

After Dr Vinayak Kale took over as dean, a decision was taken to reinstate Dr Ajay Taware as the medical superintendent, raising questions and doubts as to why he was still chosen to head an institution when enough evidence of scandals were against him. Just a year ago, after the Pune Porsche case in May 2024, Dr. Vinayak Kale said that a letter was written to medical education minister Hasan Mushrif by NCP legislator Sunil Tingre asking for Dr Ajay Tawade to be made the head of the forensic medicine department.

Remember NCP legislator Sunil Tingre, the person who went to police station in the midnight, just 50 minutes after the incident, at 3:20 AM on 19 May 2024, on request from the father of the accused in Pune Porsche case? He said that he went to police station as a responsible public representative… (we wish politicians show same affection for the common man as well, and not only the rich and powerful)

So why was a person who was in position for 8 years, and when he was forcefully asked to step down due to his scandals, no single person was kept in charge for a long time? Is it because they were not able to smoothly run the fraudulent chain the way Dr Ajay Taware used to handle? So is this the situation of Maharashtra’s largest government-run hospital, where appointments are done on how wicked you are and how smoothly you can choke the common man with your swords or manipulations and scandals? 

Moreover, if you think that Dr Ajay Taware is in jail and he will be punished for his crime; then wait? Something such going to happen is in doubt, as people in power and connections will always find a way to escape. How? In a similar way in which accountability and integrity of bureaucracy was sent for a toss when scam-tainted IAS officer Pooja Singhal gets reinstated to office by Jharkhand government in January 2025, completing 2.5 years in prison.

If we take the similar way, perhaps two more years and Dr Ajay Taware would also go out on bail, take some handsome positions in this or some other hospital, and continue to murder the hopes of common man and our justice system will just wait and watch, or would give justice after a decade. Meanwhile, the families of those two who were killed by a spoiled rich brat’s Porsche continue to suffer.