COLUMBIANA COUNTY Doctor will face 2nd trial in patients' sex allegations

The physician's first trial was scrapped after two jurors engaged in misconduct.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Jury selection in a second trial for a doctor accused of sexual battery and gross sexual imposition involving two patients is set to begin Tuesday.
Dr. Anil Bajaj, 40, formerly of Calcutta, is to go on trial then before Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
The ability to seat a jury will be a crucial first step in the trial.
Dr. Bajaj's attorney, Lawrence Stacey II of Columbiana, has asked Judge Pike to move the trial to another county. A different location is necessary because publicity about the case will prevent the doctor from getting a fair trial, Stacey has argued.
Judge Pike ruled that he would first try to get a jury seated before determining whether the trial must be held elsewhere.
Tried in June
Dr. Bajaj was initially tried in June on one of the two crimes of which he's accused.
That process ended in a mistrial called as the jury began its deliberations. Judge Pike scuttled the trial after learning that two jurors had disobeyed his order not to read newspaper accounts of the trial.
After the mistrial, Dr. Bajaj dismissed his lawyers and asked the court to appoint an attorney at taxpayers' expense.
Dr. Bajaj, who remains a licensed physician, argued that he had not been able to work as a doctor since being charged in September 2001.
His savings had dwindled, and he had run out of money to pay for his own attorneys, he told the judge.
Request granted
Judge Pike granted Dr. Bajaj's request in July, appointing Stacey to the case.
In September, the judge also consolidated the two separate charges against the doctor, meaning both cases will be tried at the same time.
Dr. Bajaj, who is free on bond and lives now in the Cleveland area, is accused of improper conduct with two patients from Wellsville during separate examinations that occurred July 27, 2001, at his Calcutta office.
He is charged with sexual battery based on authorities' allegations that he fondled a 21-year-old woman.
He also is charged with gross sexual imposition after being accused of improperly touching a 36-year-old female patient.
If convicted of both offenses, Dr. Bajaj faces a maximum penalty of more than six years in prison.