COVID-19: Complaint filed against singer Kanika Kapoor in Bihar court

A criminal complaint was filed against singer Kanika Kapoor before a Bihar court on Saturday accusing her of neglecting and disobeying an order issued by a public servant to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

The complaint was lodged by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Satish Chandra. It alleged that Kapoor hid the fact that she was infected with the coronavirus.

The matter will come up for hearing on March 31.

The complaint also accused Kapoor of spreading the disease among people by performing at three parties in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.

The “Baby Doll” singer, who became the first Bollywood celebrity to test positive for coronavirus, landed in Lucknow from the United Kingdom and was admitted to a city hospital after she showed signs of flu, reports said.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Friday, Kapoor said she had tested positive for COVID-19, setting off a chain reaction with at least four political leaders going into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and her MP son Dushyant Singh and parliamentarians Derek O’Brien and Anupriya Patel were among those who went into self-quarantine.

While Raje and her son had recently attended a dinner party in Lucknow where Kapoor was also a guest, O’Brien said he sat beside Singh at a Parliament meeting on Wednesday for two hours.

Patel, a leader of Apna Dal, said she was present at an event on Thursday which was also attended by Singh.

Singh is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which held its last meeting on Wednesday. Senior aviation ministry officials were also present at the meeting.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has also booked Kapoor for negligence and committing acts that are likely to spread disease.