Indore, Apr 22 The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday granted nearly two months' extension to a judicial commission, probing multiple deaths in Indore due to contaminated drinking water, to submit its final report.
The one-member commission, headed by former High Court judge Sushil Kumar Gupta, is investigating the deaths due to contaminated drinking water in Indore city's Bhagirathpura area which were first reported in late December last year.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi of the Indore bench of the HC is hearing five petitions related to the matter.
The bench said that a letter dated April 18 has been received from the HC-appointed commission informing that the panel has commenced inquiry which involves detailed scrutiny of public health engineering aspects, and therefore more time is needed to complete its work.
Considering the request, the HC said, "The commission is granted time up to 14.06.2026 to submit its final report before this court."
In early March, the HC granted a month to the commission to submit its comprehensive report. At that time, Manish Yadav, counsel for one of the petitioners, had told PTI the judicial panel submitted its interim report before the HC in a sealed cover.
The HC had then directed the Madhya Pradesh government to provide the commission with all records it had sought, including post-mortem reports of the deceased, drinking water test reports and documents related to water pipelines.
Local residents and the Opposition Congress have claimed that 36 people died in Bhagirathpura due to an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water supplied through municipal corporation-laid pipelines.
However, on February 19, state Health Minister Rajendra Shukla told the Assembly that 22 people had died due to contaminated water in Bhagirathpura and a compensation of Rs 2 lakh had been given to the families of each deceased.
