The Yogi Adityanath government has “temporarily” cancelled the licence of the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Amethi, run by a trust managed by the Nehru-Gandhi family, citing the death of a woman patient.

“A woman died because of the hospital authorities’ lackadaisical approach,” deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak told reporters in Lucknow on Thursday. “We have cancelled the hospital’s licence and closed it while an inquiry is in progress.”

Pathak did not say how long the inquiry would last or who would conduct it, but a senior district health official had on Wednesday indicated a three-month deadline for the probe.

State Congress president Ajay Rai alleged a “vendetta against the Congress” and said the action against the hospital, taken before the completion of an inquiry, was “illegal”.

Divya Shukla, 22, wife of Anuj Shukla, an Amethi resident, was admitted to the hospital on September 14 for a stomach-related operation. She died three days later, allegedly because of an excess dose of anaesthesia.

According to the hospital website, Sonia Gandhi is chairperson of the trust and Rahul Gandhi is one of its members. Hospital employees began a dharna on the premises on Thursday.