At least 22 persons, including a Magistrate, court staff and police personnel have been quarantined after a person accused of theft and break-in tested Covid-19 positive, media reports said.
The accused was caught red-handed on April 21 by policemen who were on patrol the Bangur Nagar area, Goregaon, Maharashtra. According to the police, he was trying to break open a paan shop for stealing cigarettes. The police said he was produced before a Holiday Magistrate on April 22, who sent him to police custody. The accused was driven in a police van to the Thane Central Jail, but since Thane Jail was packed to capacity, he was taken to Taloja Central Jail in Raigad.
The Taloja Central Jail authorities refused to take him without undergoing a Covid-19 test, so the accused was brought to Sir J. J. Hospital in Mumbai where he turned out to be positive on Saturday (April 25).
This created panic in the Bangur Nagar Police Station and the other places where the accused had travelled with different police escorts for three days, making them all high-risk contacts.
Finally, in consultation with the health authorities, a Magistrate, over a dozen police personnel and court staffers have been sent to ‘home quarantine’ for 14 days, said an official, requesting anonymity.
The incident came against the backdrop of two police personnel losing their lives to coronavirus on Saturday and Sunday sending shockwaves in the police force.
This incident has also created a fear psychosis among the police personnel and court staff dealing with persons accused in different crimes who are produced before them regularly.
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