Indore, Aug 25 The commission formed to investigate the deaths of several people after drinking contaminated water in Indore's Bhagirathpura area eight months ago has submitted its final report to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in a sealed envelope, petitioners in the case said on Tuesday.
The petitioners stated that the court reserved its decision on making the report public after hearing arguments from all parties concerned.
A division bench of Justices Subodh Abhyankar and Alok Awasthi of the Indore bench of the High Court is hearing separate petitions related to the drinking water tragedy which occurred between late December 2025 and early 2026.
The one-member commission headed by former High Court Judge Sushil Kumar Gupta investigated the deaths caused due to contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura. The panel was set up by the Madhya Pradesh government in January on the HC direction.
Ajay Bagaria, lawyer for one of the petitioners in the case, told PTI after the hearing that the inquiry commission's report has been submitted to the court in a sealed envelope.
Bagaria stated that during the hearing, he requested the HC not to make the report public for the time being and to keep it in the court's registrar's office so that the lawyers of the parties concerned could go through its findings.
"If the report is made available to people, each party will find flaws in it as per their convenience, and this could divert attention from the core issue of who is responsible for the supply of contaminated drinking water to the people of Bhagirathapura," the lawyer argued.
Ritesh Inani, another petitioner in the case and a HC lawyer, stated that during the hearing, he requested the court to make the investigation commission's report public.
Several people died in Bhagirathapura after suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea caused by the supply of contaminated drinking water.
Local residents and the Opposition Congress claim 36 people in the area died after drinking contaminated drinking.
However, amid uproar in the Assembly during a discussion on the issue on February 19, Health Minister Rajendra Shukla said 22 people died due to contaminated water in Bhagirathpura and a compensation of Rs 2 lakh was given to the family of each deceased.
