COVID-19 victim dumped on pavement in Bhopal, inquiry ordered

Bhopal, Jul 7 () A magisterial inquiry was ordered on Tuesday after a 69-year-old COVID-19 victim was dumped on a pavement outside a private hospital in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh a day earlier, officials said.

The man was admitted in Peoples General Hospital in Malviya Nagar here on June 23 for a kidney ailment and was dumped on the pavement while he was being shifted to a COVID facility on Monday evening after he was detected with the coronavirus infection, an official said.

However, it has not been established when or where he died, he added.

The man's kin alleged the body was dumped on the pavement and it remained there for an hour, and a video of it was also circulated on social media.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday called the incident "inhuman and condemnable" and collector Avinash Lavania ordered a magisterial inquiry under additional district magistrate Satish Kumar.

Lavania said the inquiry would look into various angles, including the decision to shift him from Peoples General Hospital to another facility, whether his kin was given complete information about the situation, what caused the ambulance to return mid-way and the circumstances in which he died. ADU MAS BNM BNM