Boy attends Ramdev's camp, dies

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev seems to have run into another controversy.

However, this time on it’s not the health minister or a CPI-M leader taking him on for claiming to have a drug that could help AIDS patients or for animal residues in the medicines he prescribes.

In fact, the trouble this time on is far serious and could snowball into a big row. A 14-year-old boy died after attending a Yoga Science camp organised by Ramdev in Bhubaneswar.

Manoj Das - a rheumatic heart patient - had come to the six-day camp to get cured of the disease, his brother Sarbeswar Das claimed. He felt unwell and died soon after attending the inaugural session.

However, both the police and the camp OPD at the city’s Capital Hospital - to which Das was rushed - maintain that they weren’t sure if Das had attended the camp at all.

"We (police) don't know whether he participated in the camp or not," Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur was quoted by PTI as saying.

Chairman of OPD Purushottam Patra said Das had come there and a doctor had examined him. "As his condition was stated to be serious, we took personal care to shift him to Capital Hospital," Patra was quoted as saying.

Das, who hailed from Gobindapur village in Jagatsinghpur district, had come to the camp with his Sarbeswar. He says he had brought his brother to the camp and left him at gate No. two at about 0445 hrs (IST). However, when he came back to get him nearly two hours later, he couldn’t find the boy.

Then then reportedly contacted one of his relatioves and informed him about his missing brother. The relative was incidentally present at the Capital Hospital and informed Sarbeswar about a boy being brought there.

"When I rushed to the hospital, I found him to be Manoj," Sarbeswar said.

A person intending to participate in yogic exercises should undergo certain tests to ascertain his capability to perform them. According to the Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, the person must undergo blood sugar, cardiological and treadmill tests before going for such exercises.