“There were 18 babies who were given pulse polio drops on Sunday. The baby in question was doing fine while at the booth. On reaching home, the baby started foaming in the mouth and died,” said Sreekanto Roy, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) in Malda.

He added: “We have initiated an investigation into the case and have notified the state health department. The postmortem of the body has been done and we are awaiting the forensic report.”

The CMOH, however, said that they are probing other possible reasons that could have caused the child’s death.

“There were 17 other babies which were administered pulse polio drops from similar vials, but they faced no problem. We are trying to ascertain if there were other reasons behind the death. Preliminary inquiry revealed that the baby was suffering from fever a couple of days ago. It is, however, too early to say anything on the issue,” Roy added.

The six-month-old son of a local farmer was accompanied by his elder brother to the booth in Gosaintolla village under Gopalgunj police station area in Kaliachowk. As the news broke out, over hundred villagers laid siege to the booth and staged agitations, while not allowing health workers to leave the booth. The district health officials intimated the police, who went to the spot and rescued the health workers, amid resistance from villagers, said a police officer.

Pabitra Bhaskar, a local Trinamool Congress leader said: “The state health department and police must conduct an impartial investigation into the incident. One should know whether there was negligence on the part of the health workers.”