A 61-year-old man from Maharashtra, Ashok Gawande, who had gone missing from Maharishi Deoraha Baba Medical College in Deoria, was found dead inside the hospital’s water tank. Gawande, a resident of Thane, Maharashtra, had been admitted to the hospital after sustaining a leg injury. He was brought to the emergency ward on September 27 iand admitted under his own name.

A few days after his admission, Gawande went missing from the ward. However, the hospital administration did not inform the police immediately. During the investigation, police found a shirt and a bedsheet on the fifth floor of the hospital, which were identified as Gawande’s belongings. These items helped investigators trace his ward and confirm his admission records.

On October 6, hospital staff noticed a foul smell in the water supplied to the OPD and ward buildings. When a maintenance team went to clean the cemented water tank on the fifth floor, they discovered a body floating inside. The police were informed immediately, and the body was retrieved and sent for a post-mortem examination.

A police team was sent to Mumbai and Gorakhpur to help confirm the man’s identity. Late Thursday night, police confirmed that the deceased was Ashok Gawande. They said he had been living separately from his wife for the past four years and had received treatment for mental illness in Mumbai for four months. His mental health condition was reportedly unstable.

After the dead body was found, District Magistrate Divya Mittal visited the hospital and found several safety lapses. The entry door to the fifth floor was unlocked, the latch was damaged, and there were no CCTV cameras on the staircase or the ramp leading to the top floor. A probe team, led by the Chief Development Officer (CDO), was formed to investigate the security failures, and the report was sent to the state government the same evening.

As a result, the hospital removed Principal Dr. Rajesh Barnwal from his position and transferred him to Lucknow. Dr. Rajni from Etah was appointed as the acting principal. Police are investigating all aspects of the case to determine how Gawande, a mentally ill patient, went missing and ended up dead in the water tank. Gawande’s wife, Anita Gawande, and his brother-in-law, Prafull Nagar from Gorakhpur, identified the body through photographs and WhatsApp messages.