Security guard blamed for Defence Colony coronavirus cases tests negative

Three members of the family had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 9 and were shifted to a private hospital. On Wednesday, one of the family members died.

A security guard employed by a Defence Colony family, three members of which tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) and of whom one died, has tested negative for the virus.

The guard and his family have been placed in home quarantine at their Okhla residence, after his sample was taken for testing at RML Hospital (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

This comes days after the Delhi Police registered a first information report (FIR) against the security guard, on the family’s complaint, for allegedly hiding information about visiting the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin in March.

Three members of the family had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 9 and were shifted to a private hospital. On Wednesday, one of the family members died. The guard and his family have been placed in home quarantine at their Okhla residence, after his sample was taken for testing at RML Hospital. Two senior RML Hospital doctors confirmed that the security guard tested negative for Covid-19.

Bhavreen Kandhari, a resident of Defence Colony, has been in touch with the security guard since the incident. Kandhari said, “He had called me on Thursday morning to inform that he has tested negative for Covid-19. He was very disturbed, as the family had to suffer a lot due to what has happened. He said they were starving in quarantine.”

Major (retired) Ranjit Singh, the president of Defence Colony residents’ welfare association (RWA), said, “Earlier, the police and the government told us that the man has tested positive. If now, they are saying that his test result is negative, then it is for the authorities to answer. We are taking the usual precautions in our neighbourhood anyway.”

A senior police official said that an FIR was filed on the basis of the statement given by the members of the family, who had employed the security guard, and other employees, who had said that the guard had informed them about his visit to the Nizamuddin Markaz. Also, the guard had his duty after the three members of his employer’s family were found positive with Covid-19 and a technical probe confirmed his presence near the Markaz.

“Our investigation is still in progress. Moreover, neither the guard nor anybody else has been arrested in the case. The family has told us that only the guard had been visiting their house,” the officer said, adding that the guard was ill and they sent him to quarantine at his Okhla residence. A senior police officer privy to the case said that registering an FIR does not mean the person has been held guilty. “The investigation will tell us who infected the members of the Defence Colony family. The investigators will question the family members again to find how they were infected. A charge sheet will be filed accordingly,” the officer said.

There were reports that one of the family members had a foreign travel history. When the police were asked about it when three members tested Covid-19 positive, they said the family members had already got themselves medically examined after the person returned to India around one-and-a-half month ago. Their medical reports confirmed that they were not positive with Covid-19 at that time, the police had said.