Ludhiana police team arrests infected thief, all 17 home quarantined

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana April 9

Station House Officer Mohammad Jamil, police post in-charge Kulwant Chand, an ASI and a head constable are among 17 policemen home quarantined by the Health Department after they nabbed a thief who was found to be infected by Covid-19.

The judge in whose court the accused was produced has also gone into self-quarantine. On April 6, a police patrol party received information that notorious thieves — Navjot Singh Navi and Sourav Sehgal — were on their way to sell a stolen motorcycle and a cellphone. A naka was laid and the accused were nabbed.

Sourav complained of cough and cold. He was taken to the local Civil Hospital and admitted in the corona ward. He tested positive for the infection. “The hospital authorities alerted the police and the entire team was placed under home quarantine as a precautionary measure,” SHO Jamil said.

The Health Department will now run tests on the SHO and his team. Sources said the thief had recently visited Jaipur. The police have sealed a street in Ganesh Nagar where he resided. His contacts in the locality have been quarantined. The call details on his phone are being scanned to determine who all he had met in the past few weeks.

DCP Akhil Chaudhary said the police station and chowki had been sanitised and the staff members who came in contact with the thieves self-quarantined. Sessions Judge Gurbir Singh said Judicial Magistrate ( First Class) Monica Singh had been advised self-quarantine.