Indore ashram hid 1st child's death; boy was buried without autopsy

An interim probe reveals that six children died at an Indore ashram, with the first victim buried without autopsy. The management is under scrutiny for negligence and mismanagement. Initial tests suggest cholera as the cause. 48 children remain hospitalized, with some in ICU. Further investigation is ongoing.

INDORE: Six children, not five, died at an Indore ashram between the intervening night of June 29-30 and July 2, and the management allegedly hid the very first death from the administration, TOI found on Wednesday. The first victim, 11-year-old Ankit Garg, was buried without autopsy. The interim probe report , submitted to the collector on Wednesday night, corroborates this. It holds the ashram management responsible for "hiding facts, including the death of a child", negligence in treatment, and mismanagement in record-keeping. An FIR is likely to be filed on Thursday. The interim report also says that initial tests have indicated cholera. Forty-eight kids are still in hospital, half a dozen of them in ICU. On Wednesday, TOI found documents at Shri Yugpurush Dham Boudhik Vikas Kendra - a special school for mentally disabled children - that showed Ankit died on June 30. There is a photograph of ashram director Dr Anita Sharma sitting near the child's body with folded hands. There are four other people in the frame - a footnote describes them as Ankit's father, Manoj Garg, uncle and grandfather. The note mentions the date as 'June 30', and 'time 12.30am' (day before death is believed to have been recorded), and says the body was disposed of at Panchkuiyya Muktidham. TOI went to Muktidham and found that Ankit's death was officially recorded on July 1 at 1.30am and he was buried there the same day. The probe committee - comprising ADM Gaurav Benal, WCD joint director Dr Sandhya Vyas, Chacha Nehru Hospital superintendent Dr Preeti Malpani and senior paediatrician Dr Shrilekha Joshi - was shocked when TOI showed them the picture and documents on Ankit's death on Wednesday.