Congress’ Ashok Gehlot demands judicial inquiry into Jaipur hospital fire

JAIPUR: Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Rajasthan government on Monday and demanded a judicial enquiry into the Jaipur hospital fire, which claimed the lives of at least six people.

“A judicial enquiry into the incident should be conducted, so that we would know if negligence is happening. Before it was said that roof could collapse, they didn’t care about it. A different investigation should be carried out on this. People are sitting here, crying about their relatives, someone’s mother has gone, someone’s brother”, Ashok Gehlot told reporters outside the hospital.

While Gehlot joined the protesters and interacted with the relatives, he decried how not one representative of the government was present at the scene to listen to people’s grievances.

#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan | A massive fire broke out in an ICU ward of Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, claiming the lives of six patients pic.twitter.com/CBM6vcTMfZ

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2025

“What do they want? We have phoned the Chief Minister, written to him too, we want to talk. We are feeling sad that no one is talking about an investigation. We don’t even know where the bodies are, that has never happened. Atleast a minister, or someone from the government should come after this incident but there is no government representative here”, he said.

Gehlot further claimed that the family members of the victims, who are protesting outside the hospital are being threatened by police officials to not protest. “The police officials are threatening the family members of the victims not to stage a protest here. They should get justice. Forget compensation, we can keep talking about that, but first they should get justice”, he added.

#WATCH | Jaipur | On the fire tragedy at the ICU ward of SMS Hospital, Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot says, “…There is no government representative here…A judicial enquiry into the incident should be conducted…The police officials are… pic.twitter.com/6yxlGqVLc5

— ANI (@ANI) October 6, 2025

A fire broke out at the ICU of a trauma centre at SMS Hospital in Jaipur on late Sunday night. Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph confirmed six deaths after the tragic accident. The Rajasthan government has constituted a 6-member committee to investigate the fire that broke out in the Trauma ICU of the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, claiming six lives.

The committee will be chaired by Iqbal Khan, Commissioner of the Medical Department, and includes Mukesh Kumar Meena, Additional Director of Hospital Administration in Rajasthan Medical Education Society (RajMES), Chandan Singh Meena, Chief Engineer, RajMES; Ajay Mathur, Chief Engineer, Electrical in PWD; RK Jain, Additional Principal, SMS Medical College, and Chief Fire Officer, Jaipur Municipal Corporation.

The office of the Medical Superintendent of the Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur, confirmed that the fire at the Neurosurgery ICU of Trauma and Orthopaedic Institute was caused by a short circuit. According to the press note by the SMS Hospital, around 11.20 pm, a fire broke out in Neurosurgery ICU 1 of Trauma and Orthopaedic Institute due to an electric short circuit, due to which the entire ICU was filled with smoke. (ANI)