BRD tragedy: Dr Satish walks free after 9 months

Former head of anaesthesia department at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur Dr Satish Kumar, who was among nine accused in the death of over 30 children due to alleged disruption in oxygen supply in August last year, walked out of jail on Friday.

Dr Kumar was granted bail by the Allahabad high court earlier this week.

“The high court had granted bail to Dr Kumar on Tuesday but the release order reached us today following which he was released after completing legal formalities,” superintendent of Gorakhpur district jail Ram Dhani said.

As he came out of jail after nine months, Dr Kumar broke down on seeing his wife and daughter who were waiting outside the jail and hugged them.

Doctors of BRD hospital also welcomed him and presented him a bouquet.

Dr Kumar, however, evaded queries of media persons waiting outside the jail and drove away with his family.

Earlier on April 25, the high court had granted bail to Dr Kafeel Khan, the former head of the encephalitis ward and an assistant professor at the paediatric department.

On April 9, the Supreme Court granted bail to another accused Manish Bhandari — the oxygen supplier to the BRD Medical College and hospital.

An FIR was lodged at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on August 23, 2017, against nine people, including the then BRD principal Dr Rajeev Mishra, in connection with the incident.

Dr Satish was booked under sections 308 (culpable homicide), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 466 (forgery of record), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery of records for purpose of harming reputation) and 471 (using as genuine a forged record) of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier this month, Dr Satish’s wife Dr Anita had questioned denial of bail to her husband and appealed to the court to take into consideration his deteriorating health for early release.

She rejected the charges that Dr Satish was responsible for deaths, went on leave without informing his seniors and tampered records related to sale, purchase and availability of oxygen.