Five specially-abled boys of a shelter home have died and 38 others, including girls, have been admitted to a hospital due to suspected food poisoning in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore in the last three days, officials said on Wednesday.

The incident was reported at a Special School and Children Home run by the State Women and Child Development Department through an NGO.

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The deceased were in the age group of 5 to 15 years, they said.

Indore Collector Asheesh Singh has constituted a probe committee headed by Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Gaurav Benal, MP Women and Child Welfare Department Joint Director Dr Sandhya Vyas, Chacha Nehru Children Hospital Indore Superintendent Dr Preeti Malpani and Dr Shreelekha to investigate the incident.

The five deaths occurred between June 30 and July 2 amongst the specially-abled children of the ‘Yug Purush Dham Bauddhik Vikas Kendra’ at Indore.

On learning about the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav instructed the Indore Collector to look into the matter. The Collector sent Sub-Divisional magistrate (SDM) Om Narayan Badkul to the spot on Tuesday.

However, a video went viral in which Badkul was seen laughing with the orphanage officials, while the body of one of the boys lay nearby.

The video sparked outrage and, on the CM’s strict directives, Indore Collector Asheesh Singh removed Badkul from his post.

The Collector said that out of the 38 kids undergoing treatment at the Chacha Nehru Children Hospital at Indore, four are in a critical condition and have been admitted into the ICU.

He said that an investigation into the matter is underway and a team of doctors and food safety along with a team of Municipal Corporation were sent for investigation.

The Collector said that the Food Safety Department collected food samples from the orphanage’s kitchen and they would be analysed to determine the cause of the suspected food poisoning.

State Ministers Kailash Vijaywargiya and Tulsiram Silawat also visited the kids admitted in the hospital on Tuesday night to take stock of the situation, on the instructions of the CM.

There are about 200 children living in the ashram.