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Police In Yogi Adityanath's UP Accused Of Delaying Surgery Of Dr Kafeel Khan's Brother After He Was Shot At

He sustained bullet injuries in his neck, arm and chin.
Twitter. (https://twitter.com/imMAK02/status/1005879928116600832)

Jameel Khan, the brother of Gorakhpur hospital tragedy accused Dr Kafeel Khan was shot at late on Sunday night. The 34-year-old was shot at his upper arm, neck, and chin by unknown assailants. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Gorakhpur and police said he is out of danger.

Shortly after news of Jameel being attacked broke, the Uttar Pradesh police was accused of delaying his surgery over paperwork and formalities. A report on The Times of India quotes Dr Kafeel Khan saying, "My brother has been shot. I always knew they would try to kill us." However, the police told The Indian Express that they got the news of Jameel being shot long after he was already being treated at the hospital.

SHO Ghanshyam Tiwari of Kotwali Police said that Jameel was stopped by two men on a bike around 10:30 pm on Sunday. They fired three rounds at him and escaped, following which, locals rushed him to a private hospital.

Jameel's family alleged that the police held up his surgery for over three hours and even insisted that he be shifted to a government hospital for the surgery. Khan said, "Medico legal done in sadar hospital but SSP is forcing for one more medico legal in medical college gorakhpur by medical board. They have got huge force not letting us to go. Need to remove the bullet. It's an emergency." A copy of the first medico legal certificate (MLC) was widely shared on social media as well.

Student activist Umar Khalid, who claims to have been in touch with Dr Kafeel Khan, tweeted saying that at one point the family feared that Jameel would not survive as the police was delaying a surgery to take a bullet out of his neck.

Dr Khan was arrested on 2 September 2017 after 60 infants died within a week in Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College and Hospital in August. He was held without bail for 8 months and was released only on 25 April, this year. Granting him bail, the Allahabad High Court said there was no evidence that Khan had neglected his duties at work.

Days before he was arrested, there were reports criticising the Yogi Adityanath government for not making sure that the hospital had uninterrupted oxygen supply and Dr Khan was applauded for trying to arranged oxygen from personal resources. The UP police had also slapped corruption charges against Khan which they had to drop in November 2017 as they failed to found evidence supporting their allegations.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.