Father-in-law of infected Google techie booked, coronawale baba arrested

The father of a woman, whose husband tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru, has been booked by Agra police for misleading authorities about the whereabouts of his daughter, a suspected COVID-19 patient, officials said on Sunday (March 15).

An FIR was registered at the Sadar police station on a complaint by the health department under sections 269 (unlawfully or negligently doing any act which is, and which he knows is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), district administration officials said.

According to the officials, the woman and her husband returned from their honeymoon in Europe earlier this month and landed in Mumbai. From there they went to Bengaluru, where her husband – who works for an IT company – tested positive for novel coronavirus and was hospitalised.

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The woman then left for Delhi and later came to her parents’ house in Agra. She allegedly did not cooperate with the health department officials for a coronavirus test despite being “highly suspected”.

“When a health department team reached the residence of the woman on March 13 for query, her father told the officials that she was not there and had left for Delhi in a train and would eventually fly back to Bengaluru.

“Officials immediately tried to track the concerned train and also informed the district administration about the situation and the matter was also reported to Uttar Pradesh government officers,” according to the FIR.

“Meanwhile, the officials suspected that the woman was still in Agra and the information given to them was only to mislead and unnecessarily trouble them. The woman was eventually tracked down in the city,” the complaint stated, adding that it is a widely known fact that coronavirus is highly contagious.

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The woman’s test report is awaited, the health department officials said.

Eleven others with suspected exposure, whose samples were collected in Agra on March 12, have tested negative for coronavirus, they said.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday. Uttar Pradesh has reported 11 positive cases so far, the Union Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested a fake god man in Lucknow for reportedly selling talisman for merely ₹11 claiming to cure coronavirus. Ahmad Siddiqui, the accused, had erected a board outside his shop in Daliganj, claiming he had a cure for the virus.

Teacher arrested for spreading misinformation in Odisha

A government school teacher was arrested in Odisha’s Kalahandi district on Sunday for allegedly spreading misinformation about novel coronavirus, police said.

Bindu Mahanand, who works in Dudkel primary school, had allegedly posted a message on popular mobile application WhatsApp claiming that an infected man had returned from Bengaluru and confined himself to his house at Khaliakani village in Golamunda block.

Following this, police and block officials visited the village in Golmunda area to verify the claim made by the teacher, said Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Dharmagarh, Laxmi Narayan Panda.

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The information was found to be false following which the police registered a case against Mahanand and arrested him, the SDPO said.

The teacher claimed that he was innocent and someone had played mischief using his mobile phone.

The state government had warned that stern action would be taken against anyone spreading rumours about the disease.

(With inputs from agencies)