PMC case accused Wadhawan can undergo pacemaker implantation surgery at JJ Hospital: Maha govt to HC

The state prison authorities told the court on Wednesday while the facility was not available at the civic-run KEM, the surgery can be performed at JJ Hospital.

The Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that the state-run JJ Hospital in the city has the facility to conduct a pacemaker implantation surgery for businessman Rakesh Wadhawan, who is accused of money laundering in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud case.

Wadhawan, who is in judicial custody, is currently undergoing treatment at the civic-run KEM Hospital.

The state prison authority on Wednesday made the submission before a bench of Justice Bharati Dangre in compliance with a previous query posed by the court while hearing a medical bail plea filed by Wadhawan.

Last week, Justice Dangre had asked the prison authorities to inform the court if any government hospital in Mumbai had pacemaker implantation facility after Wadhawan's lawyer Abad Ponda told the High Court that the businessman needed to undergo an angioplasty for implantation of a pacemaker urgently. Ponda had said that KEM Hospital, where Wadhawan had been admitted by the state prison authorities for treatment of multiple ailments, did not have the facility.

To this, the bench had said at the time that if such a facility was not available at any government hospital, then Wadhawan will have to be granted the option of undergoing the procedure at a private hospital of his choice and the expenses for the same will have to be borne by him. The state prison authorities told the court on Wednesday while the facility was not available at the civic-run KEM, the surgery can be performed at JJ Hospital. Wadhawan's medical examination can be conducted at JJ Hospital to carry out further procedures, it said.

Wadhawan, the founder of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2019 on charges of money laundering in the PMC bank scam.

The HC will hear the plea further next week.