Investigators examining witness accounts, post-mortem findings and the AIIMS inquiry report concluded that a series of lapses led to the death of three-year-old Sarthak Yadav, prompting criminal action against two nursing officers.
BY PC Bureau
June 14, 2026: A three-year-old boy being treated for blood cancer at AIIMS Bhopal died after he was allegedly injected with formalin — a toxic chemical used to preserve biological samples — in what investigators have described as a case of gross medical negligence.
The criminal case, registered by Bagsewania police, is based on witness statements, post-mortem findings and the conclusions of an internal inquiry conducted by AIIMS Bhopal. The FIR names two nursing officers, Madhubala Sharma and Anuka Gujarati, and alleges that a series of lapses culminated in the death of the child, Sarthak Yadav.
Sarthak, a resident of Korja village in Sagar district’s Bina tehsil, was admitted to Pediatric Ward-2 of AIIMS Bhopal on December 15, 2025. According to the FIR, the child had been diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL), a type of blood cancer, and had developed a fever that required hospitalisation.
Doctors had planned to perform a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy on December 16 as part of his treatment. Investigators allege that Nursing Officer Anuka Gujarati brought formalin into the ward in a 10-ml syringe for the procedure and marked it for identification. However, after the procedure was deferred, the chemical was allegedly neither discarded nor stored safely.
Instead, the FIR alleges that the syringe containing formalin was left unattended on a bedside locker next to Sarthak’s bed — an act that the internal inquiry later described as gross negligence.
The following morning, at around 7.15 am on December 17, Sarthak’s intravenous line reportedly became blocked. Nursing Officer Madhubala Sharma, who was on duty at the time, allegedly picked up the syringe from the bedside locker and used it to flush the IV cannula without verifying either the contents of the syringe or the label on it.
According to the inquiry report cited in the FIR, Sarthak’s father, Siddharth Yadav, repeatedly warned the nurse that the syringe did not contain IV flushing fluid.
“During this time, the child’s father Siddharth Yadav cautioned and warned Nursing Officer Madhubala three times that the syringe did not contain IV flushing fluid and that it should not be administered to the child without consulting a doctor,” the FIR states.
Police allege that the warnings were ignored.
“Despite these warnings, Nurse Madhubala ignored the family’s objections and, acting with gross haste and negligence, injected the formalin into Sarthak through the intravenous route,” the FIR says.
The effect was immediate.
According to investigators, the three-year-old lost consciousness moments after the chemical entered his bloodstream.
“Immediately after the chemical injection was administered, Sarthak became unconscious,” the police document records.
He was rushed to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), where doctors initiated CPR and emergency treatment. However, efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
“He was immediately shifted to the PICU in critical condition, where doctors administered CPR and other emergency treatment. However, despite these efforts, Sarthak Yadav died at 8.45 am,” the FIR states.
The internal inquiry committee constituted by AIIMS Bhopal reportedly concluded that the direct cause of the child’s death was the mistaken intravenous administration of formalin.
“The AIIMS Hospital inquiry report established that the child’s death was directly linked to the incorrect intravenous administration of formalin by Nurse Madhubala Sharma,” the FIR notes.
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Investigators further held that Madhubala Sharma’s actions amounted to a criminal offence because she allegedly proceeded with the injection despite repeated objections from the child’s family. The FIR states that she administered the chemical “in a rash and grossly negligent manner” after being warned several times.
The inquiry also fixed responsibility on Anuka Gujarati for allegedly leaving the hazardous substance unattended near the patient. According to police, the committee found that the formalin should have either been destroyed or kept in secure storage after the biopsy procedure was postponed, and that leaving it beside a patient’s bed constituted a separate act of negligence.
Based on these findings, Bagsewania police have booked Madhubala Sharma under Section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with causing death by negligence, and Anuka Gujarati under Section 286 for negligent handling of hazardous substances.
Both nursing officers had been suspended by AIIMS Bhopal and that efforts were underway to trace them.
