Jaipur, Dec 10: Nine newborns have died at a state-run hospital in Kota city of Rajasthan within a span of hours, officials said on Thursday, a year after the same facility had hit national headlines over the deaths of an unusual number of infants.

Five of the babies died during Wednesday night and four more on Thursday at the J K Lon Hospital. All of them were between 1-4 days old, the officials said, prompting Health Minister Raghu Sharma to order an inquiry.

Hospital Superintendent Suresh Dulara, however, claimed that the deaths were natural with no unusual or severe reason or infection.

As per the report forwarded to the health minister by the Kota medical college principal, three infants were brought dead to the J K Lon Hospital, as many died due to congenital malformations and the rest were sudden infant deaths, according to a statement.

Divisional Commissioner K C Meena and District Collector Ujjawal Rathore visited the hospital on Thursday evening and held a meeting. Meena directed the health authorities to immediately deploy six extra doctors and 10 nurses to monitor the situation and start a newly-constructed ward by Friday.

Sharma asked the officials to conduct a primary inquiry into the matter and sought a report. He has directed the principals of all medical colleges in the state to take special care towards the treatment of newborns.

In December 2019, over 100 infants died at the hospital, triggering a furore.

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Kolkata, May 2: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not be cowed down by “engineered narratives” and the "truth shall triumph” after TMC leaders claimed that a woman working at Raj Bhavan levelled allegations of molestation against him.

In a statement, the Governor said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,”

To the Raj Bhavan staff "who expressed solidarity with him following some derogatory narratives that were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties," a communication by Raj Bhawan said.

The Governor’s statement came after senior TMC leaders claimed this evening in a series of social media posts that the woman, who had levelled the allegations, has been taken to a police station to complain against Bose.

Though police sources said they received a verbal complaint, there was no official word on whether a formal complaint had been registered.

“BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose was accused of molesting a woman. How utterly appalling and Horrifying. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan today. The complainant has been taken to the Hare Street police station for filing a complaint. The woman has accused the Governor of molesting her. Shocking and disgraceful,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.

Fellow TMC MP Saket Gokhale also posted on his X account regarding the issue.

West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said it is “shameful” that the Governor has maligned his post and has used it to “torture a woman”.

“It is appalling and shocking to see such an incident. This is the same Governor who had reached out to Sandeshkhali to talk about women’s rights and Nari Shakti. This is shameful that the Governor sought undue advantages in the pretext of giving her a permanent job. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be addressing rallies in Bengal tomorrow to react on this issue,” she said.

According to sources in the Governor's House, the "woman employee with the help of her alleged boyfriend who is also an employee of the Raj Bhavan was blocking complaints (from people) being sent to the Election Commission of India.

"When she was reprimanded for that, she went outside and alleged molestation. She is in the habit of throwing tantrums against her colleagues because of some disease," a Raj Bhavan official said.

The West Bengal Governor and the TMC government have shared an acrimonious relationship since he assumed office in November 2022 and had several run-ins on various issues.

The BJP said it has to be seen whether this a “conspiracy by the TMC” or has an “iota of truth in it”.

“We all know that the TMC is politically cornered on the issue of SSC scam and is looking for a breathing space. So this needs to be seen whether this is a conspiracy by the TMC or it has any iota of truth in it,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.