Two brothers from Madhya Pradesh’s Betul died of multiple organ failure after participating in an Agniveer recruitment rally with the doctor, who treated one of them, saying he suspects he may have died of a steroid overdose even as their family refused permission for post-mortem.
Rupendra Yadav, 22, participated in the drills in Bhopal on October 29 when he arrived in the city the same day along with his brother Ankit Yadav, 18. He was rushed to a hospital in Bhopal after he fainted. His family later admitted him to a private hospital in Betul. On November 4, Rupendra Yadav died of multiple organ failure.
Ankit Yadav participated in the drills on November 3 and also fainted. “He was taken to a private hospital in Nagpur where he died on November 7 due to multiple organ failure,” said Prayag Nath, the father of the two.
Yogesh Pandagre, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s lawmaker from Betul who is also the doctor who treated Rupendra Yadav, said he initially thought it was a case of rhabdomyolysis or the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. “But the failure in the renal system, the shutdown of the liver, and later complete organ failure is a sign of the consumption of steroids.”
Pandagre said he was told the brothers were having some Ayurvedic capsules to enhance muscle growth. “That Ankit died after the same symptoms suggest both were on steroids,” he said. Pandagre said the family refused to get their post-mortem done.
Monika, the sister to two, said they were doing physical activities for two years and were absolutely fine when they left Betul for Bhopal to participate in the rally.
Alok Kumar Srivastava, the head of the pharmacology department at Bhopal’s Gandhi Medical College, said it was not uncommon for them to get cases of steroid consumption for such competitive tests. “Candidates consume anabolic steroids in the form of powder, injections, or tablets. If it is consumed higher than the prescribed limit, it can lead to kidney and liver failure as well as osteoporosis. The blood sample of the two should be examined to know the exact steroids they consumed,” Srivastava said.
No one was available for comments at Bhopal’s Army Recruitment Office.
Col Santosh Kumar, who was in charge of an Agniveer recruitment drive in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar in October, said it is a very tough competition, and hundreds participate. “We did see some candidates having [energy drink] Red Bull, creatine powder, hematinic capsules and injecting themselves with steroids just before the drills.”
He said they have begun to frisk candidates and debarred scores after banned products were recovered from their possession.” …they do not even do this under medical supervision. There are hundreds of candidates..it is not possible to do urine tests of all of them…we do extensive frisking.”
