3rd Inmate of Patna Shelter Home Found Dead, 2 More Hospitalised

A third inmate from the Patna shelter died on Friday, 31 August. On Sunday, two more inmates were hospitalised.

The inmates, aged 18 and 40, were staying at the Aasra Shelter Home in Nepali Nagar locality in Patna.

(Photo: IANS)

Two women inmates at a shelter home in Patna were admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition on Sunday, 1 September, reports News18.

Prior to this, a third inmate at the Asara Shelter Home in Pune, had died at the hospital on Friday, 31 August, after being taken to the hospital in a critical condition.

Anamika, the third inmate, who was 27-years-old, had been taken to Patna Medical College and Hospital, when she started complaining of breathlessness. “...She was severely anaemic. She died at 8 pm," Patna Medical College and Hospital superintendent Rajeev Ranjan Prasad told PTI.

On Thursday, 30 August, two other inmates, both in their early 30s, went missing and an FIR was lodged at the Rajeev Nagar police station in this connection, SHO Rohan Kumar told PTI.

2 Inmates Dead Under “Mysterious Circumstances”

The Asara Shelter Home had made headlines earlier this month, when two women inmates of the state-run shelter home died under mysterious circumstances just days after a man was arrested for reportedly asking the inmates to escape by luring them with gifts, PTI reported.

The deceased inmates, aged 18 and 40, were staying at the Home, which is located in Nepali Nagar locality of Patna.

A medical board had launched investigations into the deaths of the two girls. Manisha Dayal and Chirantan Kumar, the treasurer and caretaker who were entrusted with running the shelter home, had been arrested following the death of the two inmates.

The police had then said that the officials of the state-run facility and Patna Medical College did not inform them about the deaths of the two-inmates and had instead, gone ahead with the post-mortem, PTI reports.

While the shelter home claimed the women died during treatment at Patna Medical College on Saturday night, the hospital authorities said the inmates were brought dead. Police was informed about the deaths only on Sunday morning.

Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Law and Order (Patna), had then said to PTI

Apart from five people who work with an NGO, the staff of the shelter home had also been interrogated by a police team and Social Welfare Department officials, on 12 August.

The Shelter Home received more backlash, when two more girls from the same shelter home were admitted to the same hospital on Tuesday, 14 August. Along with this, four of its inmates had also attempted to run away from the Home, around this time.

The police then carried out an investigation and arrested a person, living in the vicinity. He was alleged to have been luring the inmates by offering gifts.

SP Sudhanshu said according to the shelter home authorities, the two inmates were taken to the hospital following complaints of diarrhoea and high fever.

Two girls were brought dead yesterday (on Saturday). As per protocol, we informed the police and conducted the post-mortem. As they were brought dead, there’s no question of (treating them for an) ailment. The post-mortem will reveal the cause of the deaths.

Superintendent, Patna Medical College and Hospital had said 

Pictures of Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader Shyam Rajak and the owner of ‘Aasra Home' surfaced on the internet after the incident, raising suspicion of the leader's involvement in the case. However, Rajak clarified to ANI that the picture was clicked during an event he attended at the venue.

The 'Aasra' case surfaces at a time when the CBI is investigating the rape case involving a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. In UP's Deoria, 24 girls were rescued from a shelter home last week after one of them told the police that they were being sexually abused.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI and IANS.)