Former MP CM Kamal Nath's Narrow Escape After Hospital Lift Crashes

Madhya Pradesh: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath had a narrow escape after a lift he boarded at a hospital in Indore on Sunday suddenly came crashing down.

 The incident happened as Kamal Nath, who is also the Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, and other party leaders were in the DNS Hospital to visit ailing party leader Rameshwar Patel. The lift he was on with party colleagues is said to have crashed from the first floor to the ground floor.

All Congress leaders in the lift, including Nath and former ministers Jeetu Patwari and Sajjan Verma, however, escaped unhurt. Officials said the lift was likely overloaded due to which it crashed.

One of the directors at DNS Hospital said that the lift didn't fall but went down a little due to the overloading, after which the liftman took the lift to the basement.

"Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath and other party leaders had gone to DNS Hospital to inquire about the condition of Rameshwar Patel. They had boarded the lift when it crashed down around 10 feet and was engulfed with dust and smoke. The lift doors got automatically locked and it took 10-15 minutes before instruments were found to open the lift's doors," Kamal Nath's media coordinator Narendra Saluja said.

Kamal Nath and all the other leaders were safe, he said, however, adding that the incident was a grave security lapse. The hospital administration must take a stern view of the issue and those responsible must be punished.

Tweeting after the incident, Kamal Nath said: "Hanumanji Ji ki Kripa Sada se Rahi hai... Jai Hanuman (the grace of Lord Hanuman has always been with me... Praise to Lord Hanuman."

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spoke to Mr. Nath on the phone soon after the incident and enquired about his health. The chief minister also asked the Indore collector to launch a probe into the incident. The official Twitter handle of the Madhya Pradesh Congress said the incident shows serious negligence and there should be an immediate probe into it. Meanwhile, the Indore district collector has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident.