Five kids die of mystery illness at Indore ashram, 38 in hospital

INDORE: Five mentally-challenged children at an ashram in Indore have died of a mysterious illness in the last 72 hours and 30 are in hospital, sending shockwaves through Madhya Pradesh. The youngest victim is a three-year-old.
Two of the deaths - including the toddler's - happened on Tuesday during a visit by senior govt officials. The two kids had not been taken to hospital although they were ill and three deaths had already happened.It was not until the morning after the third death that the administration sent doctors to Shri Yugpurush Dham Ashram, in the heart of Indore.
Amid this heart-rending tragedy a video of Malharganj SDM Om Prakash Badkul laughing was widely circulated, triggering outrage. Badkul was at the ashram during a probe initiated by ADM Rajendra Raghuvanshi. He has been removed from his post for his insensitivity, CM Mohan Yadav tweeted in the evening. The CM has ordered a high-level inquiry. Collector Asheesh Singh led a team to inspect the site on Tuesday. It's not yet known what killed the children but they have symptoms of food poisoning, say sources. Some of those in hospital are in serious condition.
The ashram houses 206 children, at least 35 of whom have been afflicted by the undiagnosed illness. Eight-year-old Shubh was the first to die, at 8am on Sunday. Two more children died on Monday - 12-year-old Karan, alias Shubham, and seven-year-old Akash. Karan, who had been at the ashram for 15 months, died at around 9.30am. Akash, who entered the shelter two months ago, died around 11.30pm.
On Tuesday, when officials of the district administration, women and child welfare department and health department were inspecting the campus, two more children died - three-year-old Govind, and Diya, 14. They had been in the ashram for three to six months.
Govind complained of a stomachache and collapsed around 3pm. He was sent to Chacha Nehru Hospital, 6 km away, but was declared dead on arrival. Less than half an hour later Diya, who had rice and dal for lunch, collapsed while playing with friends.
These two deaths happened when officials were checking up on the children, trying to identify those who had diarrhoea so that they could be hospitalised, say sources.
It’s not yet known what killed the children but they have symptoms of food poisoning, say sources. Some of those in hospital are in serious condition