A 40-year-old Jharkhand man heading home, mostly on foot from Nagpur, collapsed near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh on Sunday and died a few hours later in a local hospital on Monday morning.
“The deceased Ravi Munda (40) was a labourer from Saraikela in Jharkhand, who was working in some private company in Nagpur. His body has been handed over to his brother and cremation will be done in Bilaspur on Wednesday with the help of police,” said IG Bilaspur zone, Dipanshu Kabra.
“Munda was travelling to Jharkhand - mostly walking- along with seven others,” said Bilaspur SP Prashant Agarwal, indicating that Munda also hitched an occasional ride on the way.
Munda was travelling from Nagpur to his hometown. On the night of April 3, he began losing his consciousness near Bilaspur following which he was rushed to the Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) where he expired on Monday morning, the police officer added.
“We sent his samples for coronavirus test and it was found to be negative on Wednesday,” the SP added.
{{/usCountry}}“We sent his samples for coronavirus test and it was found to be negative on Wednesday,” the SP added.
{{/usCountry}}The SP further said that Munda’s brother stayed back in Bilaspur for cremation, while the others went ahead with their journey on Monday.
Doctors said Munda suffered some organ failure. “No postmortem was done since it was not a medico-legal case,” the SP said.
Several instances of migrant labourers perishing while undertaking a long walk home have been reported after the imposition of nationwide lockdown prohibiting the movement of people.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19