Bathinda SSP tests positive for Covid-19, finance minister Manpreet Badal in quarantine after attending I-Day function

Badal, who was the chief guest at the event in Bathinda, was spotted without a mask at the function; DC also in home quarantine

Bathinda: Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Bhupinder Jit Singh Virk and district Congress leader Khushbaz Singh Jattana tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. Both of them were present at the district-level Independence Day function, where state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal was the chief guest on Saturday.

Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who is without a mask, being greeted by deputy commissioner B Srinivasan and Bathinda range inspector general of police Jaskaran Singh, while SSP Bhupinder Jit Virk (standing behind in green mask) looks on during the Independence Day function on Saturday. SSP Virk tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday.(HT file photo)

The finance minister has announced that he will be in home quarantine as a precautionary measure after the SSP tested positive.

In an official statement issued on Monday afternoon, deputy commissioner B Srinivasan also said that he is following the quarantine protocol and isolating himself as he was sitting near the SSP during the Independence Day function.

The deputy commissioner has appealed to all those who met the SSP in the past few days to get themselves tested for Covid-19.

Jattana chaired a function at Talwani Sabo on Sunday where a youngster was felicitated for ranking in the first 200 in the Union Public Service Commission’s civil service entrance exam, the result for which was declared recently.

Bathinda range inspector general Jaskaran Singh, improvement trust chairperson KK Aggarwal, district market committee chairperson Mohan Lal Jhumba, and several local Congress leaders were present at the Independence Day function.