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Gorakhpur deaths: 'Hero' doc held

Sources said that the doctor, who is one of the nine persons accused of dereliction of duty, was arrested from Vikasnagar in Lucknow and will be taken to Gorakhpur for handing over to the police for further investigation.

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Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan with patients outside BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur
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Within weeks of being hailed as a hero for trying to save lives of children under treatment for encephalitis in Gorakhpur who died due to shortage of oxygen supply at the BRD Medical College, Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan, Head, Special Encephalitis Ward, was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) late on Friday night.

Sources said that the doctor, who is one of the nine persons accused of dereliction of duty, was arrested from Vikasnagar in Lucknow and will be taken to Gorakhpur for handing over to the police for further investigation.

Incidentally, despite tall claims by the government, children continue to die at the medical college. With 19 deaths on August 31, the number of deaths in August has now reached 399.

Earlier, the STF had arrested Dr Rajiv Mishra, former principal of BRD Medical College, and his wife, Dr Purnima Shukla from Kanpur when they had gone to meet their lawyer to discuss their bail. They are in 14-day judicial custody. A Gorakhpur court has already issued non-bailable warrants against seven other accused.

Sources said that Khan has been charged with doing private practice despite being in government service, an offence under Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act.

He had hit headlines when it emerged that he had gone out of his way to save lives of many children on August 10 and 11 after Pushpa Sales Pvt Ltd, the company supplying oxygen to the hospital, stopped supply to the college over non-payment of pending bills, resulting in death of 31 children. He had arranged many oxygen cylinders with help of his friends and hospital staff to continue supply at the hospital.

Sources claim that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was annoyed with the manner in which he was turned into a hero by the media even as his government was under criticism from all sides due to the scale of the tragedy. On his visit to Gorakhpur on August 14, he had reportedly singled out for reprimanding Dr Kafeel for hogging the limelight.

Later, the doctor was removed from his post and an FIR was lodged against him along with eight others after Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar submitted his report.

The main charge against him was that he was doing private practice at his wife Shabista Khan's children hospital even after joining the government service at BRD Medical College. There was also a reference in some quarters about an old rape case against him, but it later transpired that he had been given a clean chit exonerated in 2015.

While Khan has been arrested, six other accused are still on the run. They include the Head of Anaesthesia, Dr Satish Kumar, Chief Pharmacist Dr Gajanand Jaiswal, Pushpa Sales owner Manish Bhandari, and others.

All nine accused are facing charges under Sections 120-B, 308 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 7/13 of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act.

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