Kafeel Khan, the paediatrician who was arrested after 63 children died at a Gorakhpur hospital in August 2017, was released on bail on Wednesday. The Allahabad High Court said that the chargesheet had already been filed in the case and there was no need for Khan to remain in custody, Live Law reported.
Khan has been in jail for the past eight months, and his family had applied for bail several times, News18 reported. His bail comes days after his family released a 10-page letter he wrote from jail, in which he claimed he was being made a scapegoat in the case.
The children had suffocated to death after Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital ran out of oxygen in August. Pushpa Sales, the company contracted to supply liquid oxygen, had cut off the supply after repeatedly reminders to the state-run hospital that its dues of approximately Rs 65 lakh needed to be paid.
In the wake of the tragedy, Khan was initially praised after media reports said that he saved more than 100 children by collecting oxygen cylinders from other nursing homes, paying for them out of his own pocket, when the supply at his hospital was disrupted. He was in charge of the acute encephalitis syndrome ward.
However, the state government had refuted these reports and said the children died of encephalitis. Days later, the police arrested Khan for attempt to murder and graft. He has since been cleared of the corruption charges.