4 held for aiding Omicron patient leave India using fake -ve report

Senior officials said that while the employees of the lab located on Airport Road were arrested for creating the fake test results, the employees have been arrested for facilitating the same on behalf of the 66-year-old.

Four people have been arrested for allegedly helping a 66-year-old South African national, who was the first reported case of Omicron variant in India, leave the country with a fake Covid-19 negative certificate, the Bengaluru police said on Monday.

A senior Bengaluru police officer, who was tasked with tracking the South African, said that on November 27, health department officials had asked police to track the patient since his genome sequencing report was still awaited, and he was incommunicado. (Agencies/Representative use)

Among those arrested are two employees of a Bengaluru-based private lab and two employees of a company, where the South African national is a director. The High Grounds police had registered a case on December 5 under relevant sections of IPC and the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020, after the government claimed the patient left the country, evading authorities, using a fake certificate.

Senior police officials said while the employees of the lab located on Airport Road were arrested for creating the fake Covid negative certificates, the employees were arrested for facilitating the same on behalf of the South African national.

“We have taken four people into custody, and we are investigating further,” said MN Anucheth, deputy commissioner of police, central. “We are investigating if they are part of a larger racket issuing fake certificates.”

The 66-year-old had reached Bengaluru on November 20 and tested positive on arrival.