Accused in fake vehicle registration scam dies

Strap: Tested Covid+ve ‘posthumously’ | Son alleges lack of treatment

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Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 3

Chandigarh resident Pawan Kumar, who was lodged in the Dharamsala jail for the past three months in a fake vehicle registration scam, died at a local hospital last evening.

The deceased’s son Kamaljeet Verma, who came to Dharamsala today, alleged that his father was not given proper medical treatment in the jail. “I had talked to my father over the phone recently and he was alright. However, late Wednesday evening, I received a call from the jail authorities that my father has died and that he was Covid positive. He was diabetic and patient of hypertension. If he had contracted the infection, he should have been shifted to a hospital in time,” he alleged.

Kamaljeet has demanded an inquiry into the death of his father.

Superintendent, Dharamsala jail, Vikas Bhatnagar said Pawan Kumar suffered a cardiac arrest and he was taken to the Dharamsala Zonal Hospital, where he died. Later, he also tested positive for Covid infection.

Bhatnagar said deceased Pawan was asymptomatic.

When asked, the Jail Superintendent said 137 jail inmates had been tested for Covid, of which 13 were found infected. All of them had been being housed in separate barracks.