Mystery shrouds Patna shelter home deaths; Man tried to lure inmates with gifts to escape

Patna: New facts are emerging in the mysterious deaths of two mentally challenged women inmates of 'Aasra' shelter home in Patna's Nepali Nagar locality.

The women, one aged 17 and other 40, were allegedly asked to escape the state-run shelter home by a man.

The man had also tried to lure them with gifts, reported news agency PTI.

A controversy emerged after hospital authorities and Bihar social welfare department providing conflicting narratives and reportedly keeping police in the dark.

The women were “brought dead” to the hospital on the intervening night of August 10 and August 11, said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, Superintendent, Patna Medical College and Hospital.

A postmortem examination has been conducted. However, the reasons behind the inmates' mysterious death have not yet been revealed.

The shelter officials, on the other hand, claimed that the inmates were brought in following complaints of diarrhoea and high fever and that they died during treatment.

"Our department official who accompanied the two inmates of 'Aasra' shelter home to the hospital claimed that they died during treatment, but the hospital authorities say otherwise," said Raj Kumar, Director, Social Welfare Department.

The police blamed the hospital and shelter home authorities for not informing about the incident to the police station concerned.

"It was a lapse on part of the shelter home authorities and the hospital administration as neither of the two informed the police stations concerned before the postmortem was conducted. We came to know about the deaths only this morning," N H Khan, Inspector General of Police (IG), Patna Zone, said.

An enquiry has been launched into the matter.

According to Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Law and Order (Patna), the body of the 17-year-old inmate was cremated by NGO 'Anumaya' which runs the shelter home.

However, the last rites of the second woman were not performed since her religion was not clear.

The shelter home came into news when it was recently reported that four of its inmates had tried to run away. 

Two people were arrested on Sunday in the case, said police.

The incident comes close on the heels of Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes, where more than 30 minor girls were sexually abused over a period of time.

With agency inputs