Odisha SUM hospital inferno: More patients succumb to injuries, death toll reaches 24

Bhubaneshwar: With another person succumbing to his injuries on Friday, the death toll in the deadly SUM hospital inferno has risen to 24. Earlier, Manoj Naik, owner of Bhubaneswar`s SUM Hospital was arrested by the state police on Thursday morning.

He was arrested after he surrendered at the Khandagiri Police Station in Bhubaneswar. The police had earlier issued a look-out notice against Naik and his wife Saswati Das to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Both of them were on the run since the major fire broke out at their healthcare unit killing several patients on Monday.

In another instance, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to examine the financial transactions of Naik`s institutions.

Special Investigation Team Vice Chairman Arijit Pasayat has directed the state DGP to extend all cooperation to the Enforcement Directorate in its investigation with regard to the hospital`s financial transactions.

The state government has filed two FIRs and police have arrested four employees of the hospital in connection with the fire mishaps.