SP fields Dr Kafeel Khan in UP MLC polls

LUCKNOW: Dr Kafeel Khan, a paediatrician who was among the accused in the 2017 BRD hospital (Gorakhpur) case, will be the Samajwadi Party candidate in the forthcoming UP MLC polls on the Deoria-Kushinagar seat.

The Samajwadi Party confirmed the decision. “Yes, Dr Kafeel Khan will be our candidate,” said SP national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary. The development came shortly after Khan met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and then tweeted a picture of them together. “Met honourable former chief minister shri @yadavakhilesh sir and presented him a copy of #TheGorakhpurHospitalTragedy,” tweeted Khan.

In November last year, the UP government terminated the services of Dr Khan, a paediatrician at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, where scores of children died due to shortage of oxygen in August 2017. In April 2018, he was granted bail by the Allahabad high court.