AAP, Sena seek probe into Chetan Chauhan’s death

The Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Uttar Pradesh have demanded an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the death of state Minister Chetan Chauhan, who succumbed to COVID-19 on August 16.

Sanjay Singh, the AAP MP has sent a letter to the Lucknow Police Commissioner to register an FIR against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Medical Education Minister Suresh Khanna and SGPGI director Dr R K Dhiman for negligence in treatment that led to the minister's death.

Chauhan was being treated for COVID-19 at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) Lucknow before being shifted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram where he breathed his last.

The state unit of the Shiv Sena, on the other hand, has demanded a CBI probe into the death of Chetan Chauhan, questioning the circumstances under which he was shifted from a government hospital in Lucknow to a private facility in Gurugram.

A delegation of the Shiv Sena met Governor Anandiben Patel on Monday and handed over a memorandum to her in this regard.

In a statement issued later on Monday night, the Shiv Sena asked, "Under what circumstances was late minister Chetan Chauhan shifted from SGPGI in Lucknow to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram? Did the government have no faith in SGPGI, a prestigious institution?"

The statement further said, "The minister was hurt by the attitude of the doctors and staff of SGPGI. Till now, no action has been taken against the guilty doctors and staff of the SGPGI. In the entire episode, the government continued to sleep, and two ministers succumbed to COVID-19."

Earlier, on Saturday, Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Singh Sajan had alleged in the Vidhan Parishad that Chauhan died, not because of Covid-19, but due to carelessness in his treatment at the SGPGI. Sajan, who was admitted in the same ward as the late minister, said that the medical staff had misbehaved with Chauhan.

"Once during a round, a doctor and a nurse asked 'who is Chetan', to which the minister raised his hand since he was a simple person. He was asked as to when he got infected with the virus, to which he explained the entire matter to the hospital staff."

"At that time, another personnel asked Chauhan what do you do, to which he said he is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government," Sajan had said. He had said he was angered by the hospital staff's behaviour with Chauhan.