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Delhi Police ASI dies of Covid-19, death toll in the force now five
Soon after the ASI’s death due to Covid-19, unconfirmed reports started doing the rounds that he was connected to the case in which Tablighi Jamaat’s chief Maulana Saad and six other office bearers were booked for defying a series of government directives
A 53-year-old Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector (ASI), who was part of a special investigation team (SIT) probing the north-east Delhi riots cases, died of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Friday morning, taking the total count of deaths among city police force due to the virus to five.
His 21-year-old son has also tested positive for the virus and is presently in home quarantine, a senior crime branch officer, privy to the development, said.
ASI Sanjeev Kumar, was posted in the crime branch’s Rohini office. He died around 5.30pm at the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, where he was admitted on June 10, two days after his test report confirmed the virus infection, the officer cited above said.
Special commissioner of police (crime) Praveer Ranjan confirmed that ASI Sanjeev Kumar was not part of the crime branch team probing the case related to the religious congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat at its headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area in mid-March.
“The ASI was not involved in the Tablighi Jamaat case,” Ranjan said.
Soon after the ASI’s death, unconfirmed reports started doing the rounds that he was connected to the case in which Tablighi Jamaat’s chief Maulana Saad and six other office bearers were booked for defying a series of government directives, which curbed religious and large gatherings, issued to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the national capital.
Charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and criminal conspiracy were added to the case after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to the virus. The first information report (FIR) was filed on March 31, soon after more than 2,300 people, including foreigners, were evacuated from the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters.
The headquarters, known as the Markaz, went on to emerge as the biggest Covid-19 cluster in India, leading to a spurt in the rate of infection in the city. A total of 915 foreigners from at least 34 different countries have already been charge-sheeted in the case.
A crime branch officer, on condition of anonymity, said ASI Sanjeev Kumar complained of fever and sore throat on June 8, after which his testing was done at the RML hospital.
“As his report came positive, he was home quarantined. On June 10, he developed breathing problems and was first admitted to RML hospital. He was later shifted to GTB hospital the same day, where he died on Friday evening,” the officer said, adding that the ASI is survived by his wife and two children who live in north-east Delhi’s Maujpur.
This is the second death of a policeman due of the Covid-19 since Tuesday, -- 59-year-old sub-inspector (SI) Karambir Singh had died of the virus during his treatment at the Army Base hospital. SI Singh was the driver of assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Seelampur, Saurabh Chandra.
Amit Kumar, 31-year-old constable of Bharat Nagar police station, was the first casualty of the virus on May 5. After Kumar, two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), Shesh Mani Pandey and Vikram, both in their 50s, died on May 30 and May 31, respectively, at the Army Base Hospital. Since April, at least 700 Delhi Police personnel have tested positive for the disease.
