Gorakhpur Deaths: FIR Against 9, Additional Chief Secy Shunted

Chief Secretary of UP, Rajeev Kumar submitted a detailed report to CM Adityanath of the 105 deaths in BRD hospital.

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

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An FIR has been registered against nine persons, including the former principal of Gorakhpur based BRD Medical College, in connection with the deaths of over 60 children there due to alleged lack of oxygen supply, police said on Thursday.

The proprietors of M/s Pushpa Sales, the company responsible for the supply of liquid oxygen, have also been named in the FIR.

Besides, the state government has transferred Additional Chief Secretary (Medical Education) Anita Bhatnagar Jain in connection with the tragedy, an official spokesperson said.

"An FIR has been filed against nine persons including former principal Dr Rajiv Mishra, his wife Dr Purnima Shukla, Dr Kafeel Khan and the proprietors of M/s Pushpa Sales," Additional Director General (Lucknow Zone) Abhay Prasad told PTI.

The FIR was filed under various IPC sections relating to criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide and relevant provisions of the Anti Corruption Act by Director General, Medical Education, KK Gupta at the Hazratganj police sation here, the ADG said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeev Kumar submitted a detailed report to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the 105 deaths that took place in Gorakhpur’s BRD hospital after taking suo motu cognisance of media reports.

Adityanath directed the registration of FIRs against the ex-principal Dr Rajeev Mishra of BRD Hospital and five others.

Around 105 children have died in the state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, the parliamentary constituency of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the last five days.

Reports suggest the deaths were caused by the spread of encephalitis and lack of oxygen supply in the paediatrics ward.

Gorakhpur DM R Rautela’s report on the Gorakhpur tragedy has confirmed that there was a lack of oxygen in the hospital and blamed “financial irregularities” for the delay in payment to the supplier.

It has blamed the firm Pushpa Sales, Principal RK Mishra and the Anesthesia Department's Dr Satish for the delay.

The report further says that the hospital officials did not make timely payments and that they did not pay heed to the reminders that defaulting on this could have repercussions.