Lucknow: Dr Kafeel Khan, the suspended paediatrician of Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital, was detained by the Bahraich police on Saturday after he allegedly examined the children admitted to the district hospital.

The hospital was in the news recently after reports surfaced that over 70 children had died in 45 days due to a mysterious fever.

Khan and his supporters, who spoke to the parents of the admitted children, rubbished the claims of a mysterious fever and said the symptoms were similar to those of encephalitis. However, as soon as police came to know about the incident, they detained the doctor and took him to the Simbhauli Sugar Mill guesthouse.

Speaking to the media, Khan’s brother Adeel Ahmad Khan alleged that the doctor had been illegally detained and the authorities were not allowing them to meet. “My brother Dr Kafeel Khan has been illegally detained and is held inside the guesthouse of Simbhauli Sugar Mill. I have also been stopped from going inside the mill. My brother’s only crime is that he countered what the doctors here have been saying about a mysterious fever. According to him, the symptoms are quite similar to those of encephalitis,” he said, adding that they would camp outside the mill till his brother was released.

Dr Khan was an accused in the infamous BRD Medical College incident in Gorakhpur in which close to 60 kids, mainly infants, died allegedly due to disruption in oxygen supply over unpaid bills to the supplier. After spending more than seven months in jail, he was granted bail by the Allahabad high court in April this year.