The committee report, which will be submitted to Additional Chief Secretary (home) K C Shrivastav in a day or two, says that some gangsters and bomb blast accused made between 50 to 90 visits to the J J Hospital in the last few months under the guise of availing medical treatment. Prominent among these were Hanif Kadawala and Manoj Kumar Gupta alias Munna, both of whom were detained at Arthur Road Jail.

Worse still, the committee says, bomb blast accused Manoj Kumar Gupta managed to procure a cell-phone during one of his `sojourns' to thehospital.

Sharp-shooter Feroz Konkani made as many as nine visits to the hospital, all on the pretext of sickness, before he finally escaped in a brazen day-light operation on May 6 this year. Police constable P D Kardile who was escorting this Chhota Shakeel aide was killed in this incident. The report also substantiates how most gangsters visit the hospital premises to meet associates and to extort money, besides meeting their relatives.

Some of the recommendations made by the six-member committee headed by KEM Hospital dean Dr Pradnya Pai, include examination of undertrials by the doctors in the presence of the police. This measure would prevent the gangsters from giving threats to victims from the hospital, says the report.

Members of the committee have also suggested that arrangement should be made so that specialist doctors are allowed to visit the undertrials in the prison itself. This could go a long way in curbing their repeated visits to the hospital and eliminate the possibily of theirescaping during such visits.

The committee has also suggested that the undertrials should be treated at the prisoners' ward and not in the general wards as it has been happening in the past. The prisoners should be admitted to the prisoners ward if the case is serious and not treated as Outdoor Patient Department (OPD).

A police officer pointed out that sometime the J J Marg police station, which is responsible for providing local security, is not aware of high profile undertrials visiting the hospital. This has often led to problems in coordination between the escorts and the local police.

In some cases the undertrials are allowed to mingle with their relatives without handcuffs. This is mainly with the connivance of the escorts from prisons.

The jail authorities have also been adviced to maintain stocks of essential medicines so that undertrials are not be rushed to the hospital for petty ailments.

The other members of the committee were Dr B L Deshpande, Director Medical Education, JointCommissioner of Police (crime) D Shivanandan besides three other doctors.