Delhi Police ASI succumbs to Covid-19

A 53-year-old assistant sub-inspector with the Delhi Police succumbed to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a private hospital in the national capital on Thursday

A 53-year-old assistant sub-inspector with the Delhi Police succumbed to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at a private hospital in the national capital on Thursday morning, taking the total number of known deaths due to the disease in the police force to 13. He had received plasma from a colleague, but the therapy did not work on him.

HT Image

The policeman, Jeevan Singh Bisht, was posted to the motor transport department of the Delhi Police’s Special Branch. Its office in central Delhi’s Asaf Ali Marg has been part of a containment zone for over a month.

“A total of 30 police personnel deployed at our office have tested positive so far, but this is the first death in our department,” Suman Nalwa, the deputy commissioner of police (Special Branch), said.

Bisht, who lived in Noida with his wife, teenage son and 22-year-old daughter, was in charge of maintaining official vehicles.

His daughter, who works for a private firm, said that he was a physically healthy man who had tested positive for Covid-19 on June 21. Neither the family nor the police know exactly how he got infected, but police officers said that he would visit the Special Branch office on alternate days for work.

Initially, Bisht was admitted to a quarantine centre in Noida, but when his family realised that he wasn’t receiving food and water on time there, they got him moved to a private hospital in Lajpat Nagar the next day.

“Here, he initially displayed no symptoms, but began facing breathing issues some days later. Doctors said the oxygen level in his blood was falling and he needed plasma treatment. Since that facility wasn’t available there, he was moved to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on June 27,” DCP Nalwa said.

A head constable from the Special Branch office donated plasma to him, but Bisht did not recover.

His daughter said that their remaining family quarantined itself at home after his hospitalisation. “We had mild symptoms, but we didn’t get ourselves tested. Instead, we stayed in home isolation,” Bisht’s daughter said.

The family last spoke to him over a video call on the day he was moved to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. “He couldn’t speak properly due to breathing issues. We asked him to rest instead of talking, but he kept asking about us,” his daughter said.

Bisht, who was in the intensive care unit, passed away on Thursday morning.

So far, the virus has infected more than 2,200 Delhi Police personnel. Of them, over 1,400 have recovered from the viral infection and resumed their duties, a Delhi Police spokesperson said.