Sonia sends Jaiswal to probe Kanpur boy's death

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked Minister of State for Coal, Statistics and Programme Implementation Sriprakash Jaiswal to make inquiries into the death of an 8-year-old Kanpur boy Aman Khan. The parents have blamed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's security for their son's demise and alleged that he died due to roadblocks erected during the prime minister's recent visit to Kanpur.

They claimed they were not allowed to take the shortest route to the hospital to give their son medical treatment on time. The boy's mother, Usha Sharma wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi highlighting the ''inhuman behaviour'' of the police.

In the letter, she has asked Sonia Gandhi to ensure that a similar tragedy does not befall anyone else in the future. The Congress on Friday described the boy's death as ''sad'' and hoped such incidents are not repeated."It is a sad incident. The security agencies of the Central and the state governments should be more sensitive and work to ensure that such incidents are not repeated," said Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed. Aman suffered a serious head injury at 1500 hrs on July 3 after the iron gate at his home fell on him.

Consequently, his father Tamaddun Hussain rushed him to the hospital, but was apparently delayed by 30 minutes because of traffic restrictions imposed during Dr Singh's visit. The PM was in Kanpur on July 3 to attend the convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and address the Merchants Chamber of Uttar Pradesh.