Gorakhpur tragedy: UP police arrests another key accused

Kafeel Khan

Lucknow: A Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday in Gorakhpur arrested an accused connected to the mass death of children within a week in August at the BRD Medical College. Kafeel Khan, the third prime accused in the case, was trying to flee the country possibly to Nepal when he was arrested, sources informed IANS. An FIR was lodged against him earlier this week along with six others and a non-bailable warrant was issued by a fast track court on Friday. Over 60 children lost their lives between August 10 and 14 at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur, the home constituency of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. At least 30 of them died within 48 hours due to shortage of oxygen supply. Khan, the nodal officer of the 100-bed AES (acute encephalitis syndrome)ward has been accused of dereliction of duty and not informing seniors and the administration of the paucity of oxygen, which led to the deaths. Former Principal of the medical college Rajeev Mishra and his wife Poornima have already been arrested and are in a 14-day judicial custody. Mishra has been accused of sitting over bills of the vendor supplying oxygen. Reports said despite an allocation of Rs 4.54 crore for the financial year 2017-18, Mishra did not clear a payment of Rs 63.65 lakh. His wife has been accused of stalling the payment by pressurising him.