Two nurses at AIIMS Bhopal have been booked for allegedly administering a wrong injection, carrying a toxic chemical, to a three-year-old cancer patient who died soon after, police said on Saturday (June 13, 2026).

According to the police, the incident took place in December 2025, and that an FIR was lodged after an internal inquiry of the AIIMS found gross negligence on part of nursing officers Madhubala Sharma and Anuka Gujarati and that the cause of child’s death was the injection. The AIIMS management has suspended both nurses.

The nurses have been booked under BNS Sections 106 and 286 at the Bagsewania police station. While Ms. Sharma allegedly administered the wrong injection, Ms. Gujarati had left the toxic injection unattended.

DCP Bhopal Zone 2, Vikas Sehwal told The Hindu that the child was a resident of Sagar district and had been admitted to AIIMS for cancer treatment.

“The syringe with the wrong injection was kept nearby and a nurse inserted it into the drip bottle that was being administered to the child. The child’s family even tried to stop the nurse, but it was too late. It was either formalin or a formaldehyde solution which are both highly toxic,” he said.

Mr. Sehwal said that even though the child was already in critical condition, he died within an hour of being given the wrong injection.

“The FIR was lodged based on an internal probe of AIIMS which found negligence on part of the two nurses. We also took the drip bottle in possession about 10 days ago and have sent the samples for testing,” the DCP said.

Siddharth Yadav, the child’s father, said that he had tried to stop the nurse who had picked up the wrong syringe as “it had an ‘F’ mark on it”.

“I tried to stop her before she injected it into the IV bottle but she said, ‘Am I the doctor here, or are you?’. My son got unconscious soon after,” Mr. Yadav said, adding that while his son was rushed to the Paediatric ICU, he died soon after.