Gorakhpur Deaths: Ex-Head of Hospital’s Anesthesia Dept Surrenders

Four of nine named in the FIR have been arrested.

Indian relatives look after their children suffering from Japanese Encephalitis at a hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Former head of anesthesia department at the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Dr Satish, surrendered on Monday, taking the total number of those arrested in the case to five.

Dr Satish surrendered himself in the anti-corruption court in the afternoon. We will seek his remand for interrogation. Apart from this, evidence gathering is going on.

Anirudh Sidhartha Pankaj , SSP Gorakhpur.

Circle officer of Cantt police station Abhishek Singh said, "The court has sent Dr Satish to jail. Police have sought a remand of two days to interrogate him."

Four of Nine Named in FIR Arrested

Before Satish’s arrest, the police had arrested four out of the nine people named in a First Information Report into the deaths.

The Special Task Force of UP police had on August 29 arrested the former principal of the college, Rajiv Mishra, and his wife, Purnima Shukla. Mishra was suspended as principal of the medical college on August 12 after the deaths were reported. He resigned after taking moral responsibility. There were allegations that the deaths occurred due to disruption in oxygen supply as the vendor had not been paid for several months.

On September 2, the UP Special Task Force arrested former nodal officer at the hospital’s Department of Paediatrics, Dr Kafeel Khan. A week later the police arrested, Sudhir Pandey, a clerk who worked at the hospital. Pandey was arrested from near Khajanchi Chowk under Shahpur police station area here after receiving a tip-off.

(With inputs from PTI)