PRANA Das, the doctor at the centre of a scandal into alleged failings at a care home, has died.

In 2012, Dr Das was facing a string of charges - relating to alleged failings at the Brithdir Care Home in New Tredegar and The Beeches in Blaenavon - when he was seriously injured during a burglary at his home.

The head injuries he received, after being beaten with a hammer, left him unfit to stand trial over the care home allegations.

His company, Puretruce Health Care Limited, was at the centre of a seven-year, £11.6 million police investigation - codenamed Operation Jasmine - into alleged fraud and neglect at care homes in the Gwent region.

The operation had been launched by Gwent Police in 2005 to investigate more than 60 deaths, but amounted to nothing following the attack on Dr Das.

Edward Donovan, then 51, and Rhiannon Gibbons, then 27, were convicted in April 2013 of breaking into Dr Das' home, tying him up, and beating him before making off with a BMW car, cash, and jewellery.

They were jailed for a total of 25 years.

Following the attack, individual charges against Dr Das were ordered to lie on file, because of the injuries inflicted on him, and the likelihood he would never be fit to stand trial.

In May 2015, six former nurses at the care home had a total of 86 failings found proven against them by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, in relation to the care of nine vulnerable residents between April 2004 and March 2006.

In 2015, a Welsh Government review of Operation Jasmine concluded that Dr Das' trial, had it proceeded, "might have led to a conviction for crimes of fraud and breaches of health and safety".

Helena Herklots, the Older People's Commissioner for Wales, said news of Dr Das' death would be "an unwelcome reminder" of the allegations of abuse and neglect of older people living in South Wales care homes in the late 1990s.

The dignity of the alleged victims' families, and their commitment to future abuse, was "inspiring", Ms Herklots said, adding that she "would like to pay tribute to their tenacity and resolve".

“While there are still many unanswered questions about what happened and how abuse and neglect on the scale alleged could have taken place, Operation Jasmine has led to a range of action - by the police, public bodies and care providers - to ensure that older people living in care homes are safeguarded and protected more effectively, and to identify the ways in which the criminal justice system could be improved, although there is still much work to be done,” said Ms Herklots.