Kapurthala shelter deaths: Three days on, food donors untraced

Even three days after contaminated food killed two mentally challenged teenagers at state-run shelter Sukhjit Ashram here and made 31 ill, the district administration has no clue who donated it.

Even three days after contaminated food killed two mentally challenged teenagers at state-run shelter Sukhjit Ashram here and made 31 ill, the district administration has no clue who donated it.

Broken doors bear witness to the pathetic living conditions at Sukhjit Aashram in Kapurthala.(Singh Chopra/HT Photo)

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The donors arrived in a mini truck on Sunday and distributed poori-chhole (fried bread with spicy chickpeas) to 34 inmates, of which Chhotu (14) and Jyoti Rani (16) died after eating it. The other inmates are in the civil hospital here since Monday.

On Wednesday, the administration suspended district social security officer (DSSO) Gulbarg Lal and started a departmental inquiry against attendant-cum-cook Veena Rani for their negligence in serving donated cooked food to the inmates. No special efforts, however, has been made to locate the bigger culprits.

Inmates of Sukhjit Ashram at a hospital on Wednesday after they fell ill upon eating some food at the shelter for the mentally challenged on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

Subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Mandeep Kaur submitted her report to deputy commissioner (DC) Jaskiran Singh on Thursday. Since the shelter doesn’t have security cameras, the DC told senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajinder Singh to scan the footage of the adjacent cameras. The SSP, however, said that in his knowledge, “the SDM is conducting a judicial inquiry and police have no official order to start investigation”. “I will check with the DC’s office if it sent me any directions on Thursday evening.”