Chamarajanagar deaths: Now, Karnataka sends team of doctors for probe

The move comes after the Chamarajanagar district administration submitted a death audit report in which it stated that only three patients died due to lack of oxygen on May 3. District in-charge minister Suresh Kumar said that a team of doctors will probe the Chamarajanagar tragedy and deaths. “The state government has sent the team of doctors and other experts to two districts,” he said.

On Wednesday, the High Court had appointed the committee of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority with Justices AN Venugopala Gowda as chairman and KN Keshavanarayana as a member to probe the incident. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka passed an order to this effect and told to submit the report by Monday. The state had Wednesday morning, following an order by the home department, appointed retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice BA Patil to carry out an inquiry into the Chamarajanagar tragedy.

On the day of the incident, the Chamarajanagar district sessions court judge Sadashiva S Sultanpuri visited the hospital to take stock of the situation and also spoke to the Chamarajanagar district commissioner MR Ravi.

The families of the patients who lost their lives have alleged that the deaths occured because of a shortage of medical oxygen at the facility. The state government has claimed only three of the deaths occurred due to this reason.

A day after the incident, the Karnataka government had ordered a probe and appointed senior IAS officer Shivayogi Kalasad as the inquiry officer.