Witch hunt on against us: Apollo

New Delhi, Jun 14 (UNI) Maintaining that a witch hunt was on against the hospital, Apollo CEO Pratap Reddy today denied having exchanged SMS with hospital administrator Raji Chandru early on June 2 with regard to the Rahul Mahajan-Bibek Moitra drugs abuse case.

''If it were not alarming, I would be amused by insinuations that I sent out SMSs at early hours of the morning. Besides the fact that I don't use SMSs, it is absurd that details with so much falsehood should be provided to misguide the public and the media,'' the Apollo Hospital quoted him as having said.

News reports today had quoted unnamed police officials as saying that police would soon grill Reddy and Chandru about the exchange of SMSs between them, soon after late Pramod Mahajan's PA Harish Sharma allegedly rang up Chandru requesting that details of the sordid incident be kept under wraps.

Police has already booked Sharma for tampering with evidence.

''We saved a life; now we face absurd insinuations'', an Apollo statement quoted Mr Reddy as saying.

Pointing out that administrative details were secondary to saving lives in an emergency situation, he insisted that there was ''absolutely nothing that was fudged at the hospital''.

''The medico legal register has no confusion at all. To allay any allegations of tampering we handed over the samples as soon as they came to the police for forensic testing'', he said, answering police claims about changes in the register and the conduct of the hospital over the test reports.

''We, at all times, have cooperated with the investigating authorities, which is highlighted by the fact that more than six of our top doctors left behind hundreds of their needy patients to answer the repetitive questions of the police over a period of two days''.

The medical fraternity was getting ''traumatized as a result of the ongoing witch-hunting'', he said.

Speaking to reporters on June 8, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Manish Agarwal had said that the conduct of Apollo doctors was under suspicion. ''We suspect a coverup on their part'', he had said, adding that there was ''a deliberate attempt'' to delay information about the incident from reaching police on June 2.

Police had registered a case against the hospital at the Sarita Vihar Police station for allegedly giving false information to the investigating agency.

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