Infant deaths: Gorakhpur hospital’s suspended Principal, wife arrested

Lucknow, Aug 29 (IANS) The suspended Principal of Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur, where more than 60 children, including infants, died in a span of six days, and his wife were arrested on Tuesday from Kanpur by a Special Task Force team, officials said.

Rajeev Mishra and his wife Poornima were picked up from a prominent lawyer's house where they had apparently gone to seek legal counselling following FIRs against them for alleged callousness leading to the deaths at the hospital between August 7-12.

Mishra was accused of sitting over payments to the vendor supplying oxygen gas to the hospital, the disruption of which allegedly led to the deaths of many children.

While the Uttar Pradesh government has vehemently denied that lack of oxygen led to the deaths, a high-powered probe committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajeev Kumar indicted Mishra and others on laxity and other charges.

Officials at Gorakhpur SSP Satyarth Aniruddh Pankaj's office confirmed the arrests and said the couple was being taken to Gorakhpur for further legal action.

In a related development, police raided the house of Kafeel Khan, the Nodal Officer in the Paediatrics Department, who too had been suspended after the deaths, that created a national furore.