A day after local court of Gorakhpur issued a non-bailable warrant against seven accused in death of 33 children in BRD Medical college and Hospital on August 10 and 11, police arrested Dr Kafeel Khan, former in-charge of encephalitis department, who was charged with dereliction of duty on saturday.
Dr Kafeel, who was among the nine people against whom the UP government had filed was arrested in Gorakhpur. Senior police officer Anand Kumar said that the STF arrested the suspended doctor when he was trying to flee Gorakhpur.
The FIR was lodged against nine persons on August 23 including suspended principal of the BRD Medical college Rajiv Mishra and his wife Dr Purnima Shukla. Both of them were arrested on August 29 from Kanpur and taken to Gorakhpur. The couple is at present under judicial custody.
On Friday, Gorakhpur court had issued non-bailable warrant against seven people including Dr Kafeel after their whereabouts were not found by the police. The other accused who are on run and non-bailable warrants have been issued against them are: Senior anesthetist Dr Satish, chief pharmacist Gajanan Jaiswal, accountant Sudhir Pandey, assistant clerk Sanjay Kumar Tripathi and gas suppliers Uday Pratap Singh and Manish Bhandari.
The police complaint was lodged after state chief secretary Rajiv Kumar submitted his report to the CM seeking strict action against the nine people
Police have charged suspended principal of BRD Medical College Dr Rajeev Misra and Manish Bhandari of Pushpa Sales Private limited the company supplying liquid oxygen to the hospital for attempted culpable homicide (attempt to cause death) and criminal conspiracy. Dr Misra has been accused of not clearing the payment of Pushpa Sales “because non-settlement of commission.”
The police had held Head, Anesthesia Department Dr Satish and former nodal officer of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) ward Dr Kafeel Khan guilty of criminal negligence resulting in death. Dr Satish has been slapped with charges of not informing his seniors about the scarcity in oxygen supply and Dr Kafeel Khan, who was in charge of the 100-bed AES ward, has been accused of not making adequate arrangement to ensure unrestricted supply of oxygen for the patients.
The case has been registered under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) apart from section 8 (taking gratification) of Prevention of Corruption Act, section 15 of Indian Medical Council Act and section 66 (misusing computer or communication device to send information which is untrue).