Now, 2 women at Patna shelter home die

Even as the CBI has been probing the sexual abuse case in Muzaffarpur shelter home, two women at Patna shelter home passed away.

Though their death took place on Friday night, the Patna police were informed on Sunday, around 36 hours after they died.

“Two women, Poonam Bharti and Babli, were brought from Aasara shelter home in Rajiv Nagar to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for treatment on Friday. However, the doctors who attended them have informed me they were brought dead,” said Dr Rajiv Ranjan, superintendent of the PMCH, here on Sunday.

The post-mortem of the deceased was carried out in the presence of Pirbahore police but the Rajiv Nagar police were not informed about the incident. As a consequence, no senior police or administrative officers got a clue about the incident.

On Sunday, when the matter came to light, District Magistrate of Patna Kumar Ravi and Senior SP (SSP) Manu Maharaj visited the PMCH as well as Rajiv Nagar shelter home.

While one body had been cremated, the other was seized by the police. “We have asked for another post-mortem so that we could get to the bottom of the matter,” said the DM.

Meanwhile, the police have apprehended some employees of the shelter home for interrogation. “We are interrogating them as both the women, who have died, were reportedly not seriously ill,” said the SSP.

Aasara shelter home in the state capital was in the news on Friday when some of the inmates made an unsuccessful bid to escape by cutting the window grill. A neighbour, who provided the instrument to cut the grill, has been arrested.