Five children died and 29 others fell ill in the past two days at Yogpurush Dham Ashram, an orphanage in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, prompting the district collector to order an investigation to ascertain the cause of deaths.
“One child died of epilepsy on Sunday while a seven-year-old, who was also suffering from epilepsy, died on Monday. But a 10-year-old boy, a 7-year-old and a 15-year-old died on Tuesday allegedly due to some infection,” said Anita Sharma, principal of the Yogpurush Dham ashram.
The deceased have been identified as Shubham alias Karan, Divya, Akash, Shubh and Chhota Govind. They were shifted to the ashram by the Child Welfare Committee of different districts.
The 29 children have been admitted to the Chacha Nehru Hospital in Indore after they complained of fever, vomiting and diarrhoea on Monday and Tuesday.
Hospital superintendent Dr Ashok Yadav said, “The condition of two children is stated to be serious due to dehydration and acute weakness while others are stable. We are treating them. We have done all the important tests of children to know the exact cause of illness.”
Indore district collector Ashish Singh ordered an investigation into the matter and also removed sub-divisional magistrate, Malharganj Om Narayan Singh after his video of laughing loudly during an inspection of the orphanage went viral on social media on Tuesday.
The collector said, “Children died of some blood infection as they complained of diarrhoea and dehydration, but the exact reason will be known only after a thorough investigation. The blood samples have been sent for the tests while a team of food and drugs department took sample of the food and water which are being provided to the children.”
Police have also started a probe into the matter as mentally challenged children from across the state also live in the orphanage.
After the death of the children, the ashram management has written a letter to the Child Welfare Committee on Tuesday, saying that the children fell ill due to some blood infection that is yet to be diagnosed by the doctor.
Yogpurush Dham Ashram was started in 2006 under the guidance of Swami Parmanand Giri. There are a total of 204 children in the ashram.
