Bhubaneswar: Capital Hospital authorities Saturday said postmortem of 19 patients, who lost their lives in October 17 inferno at Sum Hospital here, was completed and the reports will be handed over to the Commissionerate Police.
“Postmortem reports, which were issued by two doctors, have specified similar causes and in some cases there are more than one cause, but we cannot reveal this to the media as the police will investigate the matter on the basis of these reports,” Capital Hospital director Biswa Bhusan Patnaik told the media.
When contacted, commissionerate police officials said they have received the postmortem reports and suggest that the patients could have died due to asphyxiation.
Talking about the investigation into the matter, twin city police commissioner told reporters, “One of the trustees of SOA University, Manoj Nayak, has been arrested and is on police remand now. It will be a prolonged investigation and will take some more time. A look out circular is still on for Nayak’s wife Saswati Das, as she has not yet appeared before the police. We have acquired some valuable information during interrogation and are further investigating the matter.’’
Police sources said the cops reportedly asked Nayak, who is being questioned at an undisclosed location, to ask his employees to produce all fire safety documents of the hospital available with them.
“The top cops had a word with Nayak before he surrendered to them. Possibly they are not vigorously looking for Das and other trustees of the board,” the sources indicated.
Commissionerate police officials said they were trying to understand the organisational structure of the medical institution.
“Several people are being questioned and their statements recorded. We questioned SOA University’s dean and its vice-chancellor Saturday. The intention behind the investigation is to know their decision-making process at various levels,” they added.
Enforcement Directorate officials, however, remained tight-lipped after being asked whether they have started investigation into financial dealings of the Sikya O Anusandhan University which runs the Institute of Medical Science and SUM Hospital (IMMSH).
Meanwhile, the toll in the SUM Hospital fire mishap went up to 26 with the death of one more patient Saturday morning. The deceased has been identified as Kartikeswar Das, a resident of GGP Colony in Rasulgarh area here.
Das was reportedly shifted to Apollo Hospital after the blaze at the SUM hospital Monday evening. PNN
