Pune: The Hadapsar police on Friday night seized a senior medical practitioner’s pistol, 20 rounds of ammunition and his firearm licence, a day after he allegedly used it to threaten a family friend and relatives of a deceased patient at a private hospital.The medical practitioner works as a senior official at Villoo Poonawalla Memorial Hospital in Hadapsar. He allegedly threatened them at the hospital on Thursday evening.Inspector Nilesh Jagdale of the Hadapsar police said, “We have seized the pistol, 20 rounds of ammunition and the firearm licence from the elderly medical practitioner. Prima facie, we suspect he has a health issue — hypertension — and he pulled out the pistol because of this condition. We have decided to send a report to the Pune police commissioner’s office seeking cancellation of his firearm licence.”A Camp resident, Pratik Kamble (33), lodged a complaint against the medical practitioner. According to it, the mother of one of his friends was admitted to the hospital. Kamble’s friend had paid medical bills amounting to Rs2.4 lakh.After the woman died on Thursday, the hospital allegedly issued another bill of Rs 2.23 lakh. Kamble’s friend, a resident of Phursungi, called and requested him to help reduce the bill. When Kamble visited the hospital, he was directed to the medical practitioner’s office. The medical practitioner allegedly pulled out the pistol from a table drawer and threatened Kamble.The hospital on Saturday issued a statement saying, “At Villoo Poonawalla Memorial Hospital, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and patient care. We have constituted an internal committee to review the matter and are extending our full cooperation to the authorities concerned as they carry out their inquiry.”It said, “As the matter is currently under review, it will not be appropriate to comment further. We remain committed to ensuring that due process is followed and appropriate action is taken based on the findings.”
