A man in India has accused police officers of taking away his mother’s oxygen cylinder in order to give it to a "VIP."
In a now viral video taken last Tuesday, Anmol Goyal, 22, can be seen on his hands and knees begging police officers outside of Upadhyay Hospital in Agra, India for his mother’s oxygen cylinder, according to The Independent.
"My mother will die if you take away her oxygen cylinder," Goyal said on the video. His mother Usha Goyal, 52, ended up passing away just two hours later.
The reporter who recorded the video said that the "cylinder was reportedly confiscated from the hospital in Agra to supply it for a VIP."
You can see the tragic footage below:
भईया मेरी मां चली जाएगी... A man cried and begged policemen not to take away the oxygen cylinder he arranged for his mother in critical condition.
The cylinder was reportedly confiscated from private hospital in Agra to supply it for a VIP. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/OHjR5Xvhcj
— Deepak-Lavania (@dklavaniaTOI) April 28, 2021
Goyal and his brothers later told the press that they had "great difficulty" initially finding the tank for their mother.
"When I asked the ward boys why they were taking away our oxygen cylinder, they told me that they want to save somebody's life," Goyal said to reporters at The Wire. "Who is that somebody? And is my mother's life not valuable enough?"
The Agra Police are denying any wrongdoing on their part. Instead, they claim that they were merely taking an empty oxygen cylinder away for refilling.
"Three days ago, there was some oxygen shortage in the district because of which we were helping patients to refill cylinders," said Rohan P. Botre, superintendent of the Agra Police, to the press. "The person is crying only because he was requesting the police to help him with a cylinder."
उपाध्याय हॉस्पिटल के वायरल वीडियो, ऑक्सीजन की समस्या से ग्रसित व्यक्ति, खाली सिलेंडर को ले जाकर भरवाने की कोशिश व 1 व्यक्ति द्वारा पुलिस से सहायता हेतु सिलेंडर की मांग दर्शाते हुए, भ्रामक तरीके से पोस्ट किए गए वीडियो के खंडन के संबंध में #SPCityAgra द्वारा दी गई बाइट। @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/XSvvbn11kC
— POLICE COMMISSIONERATE AGRA (@agrapolice) April 28, 2021
This all comes amidst India’s dire COVID outbreak that’s overwhelming hospitals with patients and leading to a national shortage of vital supplies like vaccines, PPE, and oxygen tanks.
The country is currently averaging more than 3,000 deaths from coronavirus each day, according to The New York Times. The situation has gotten so bad that they've even recently resorted to burning bodies en masse in parking lots.
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READ MORE: Woman dies after Indian police ‘take oxygen cylinder from family for VIP’ [The Independent]
More on India’s COVID crisis: COVID Is Killing so Many People in India That They’re Burning Bodies in Parking Lots