Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s plea of jailed has been turned down by the Delhi court turned down, facing trial in a disproportionate assets case, to undergo pacemaker implantation at a private hospital instead of a government facility.
While rejecting his plea, special CBI judge Manu Rai Sethi directed the jail superintendent to get the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief referred to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital here, saying it has all infrastructure and facilities required for his treatment.
Chautala, 78, who is in jail after being sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam case, along with his MLA son Ajay Chautala, has been complaining of ill-health post his conviction.
The INLD leader’s counsel had urged the court to allow his client to get a pacemaker installed at a private heart institute at his own expense, as he was suffering from various ailments and required a multi-disciplinary hospital for treatment and that government hospitals did not have such facilities.
At this, the court had called for reports from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), RML and GB Pant hospitals by Monday regarding the availability of infrastructure and possibility of appropriate treatment being accorded to Chautala.
The GB Pant Hospital had said it could only provide general medicare, while the RML and AIIMS said they had the facilities for treatment for various cardiac ailments.
Agreeing with his counsel’s submission that Chautala is entitled to proper treatment for his ailments, the court said that “report from the RML makes it evident that all facilities and infrastructure required for treatment of the applicant (Chautala) are available there”. The court directed the jail superintendent to get Chautala referred to the RML Hospital for treatment and, if required, for hospitalisation and make adequate ambulance facility for his transit.
The court directed that he be provided adequate security during his stay at the hospital. The judge allowed one member of family to stay with Chautala at the hospital after consultation with the medical superintendent.
Earlier, the former CM’s counsel had told the court that he was referred to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital here after his conviction in the 1999-2000 teachers’ recruitment scam. He was then referred from to the GB Pant Hospital and, during his treatment there, he was advised to consider pacemaker implantation.
The court is hearing a disproportionate assets case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Chautala in 2010 on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala, who accused him of amassing assets worth Rs. 6.09 crore, far exceeding his legal income between 1993 and 2006. Two such separate cases are on against his sons Ajay and Abhey Chautala.
