Detention period extended by 15 days for suspect in HIV positive blood transfusion case

Criminal Court has extended the detention period for the Indian laboratory technician, who is being accused of negligence in the transfusion of HIV positive blood to a pregnant woman at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), by 15 days.

The court first gave 7 days of detention for Rajesh Baskaran, 32, from Kerala, India, on Friday.

Rajesh was arrested on Thursday night.

The police have confirmed to Sun Online that his detention period has been extended by 15 days, at the end of the initial seven-day period.

Deputy CEO of IGMH Dr Mohamed Habeeb has said that Rajesh had confessed that it was his negligence that caused the transfusion of HIV positive blood to the pregnant woman, however, he had claimed that it was not done on purpose.

Dr Habeeb said that Rajesh is being accused of negligence because he wrote in the report that the donor’s blood was HIV negative, after the test showed the blood to be HIV positive.

He further said that Rajesh travelled to India suddenly on the day of the blood transfusion for personal reasons, and returned to Maldives two days later.