3 attacks on policemen across Mumbai during lockdown
The Mumbai Police has lost three constables to the virus and has reported 142 cases among its force until Saturday morning.
Three separate instances of attacks on Mumbai Police personnel, while implementing the lockdown, have been reported in the city on Thursday.
In the first case, 29-year-old vegetable vendor Sufiyan Shaikh has been booked for assaulting police sub-inspector (PSI) Ayub Shande, 33, on Thursday around 1pm in Bandra. Shande was patrolling at Behrampada slum area, a containment zone, when he spotted Shaikh loitering in the neighbourhood with his cart. When Shande asked him to go back home, he told Shande that he was distributing vegetables to residents. This lead to an altercation between the duo and later turned into a scuffle. Soon, the other residents intervened and sided with Shaikh, following which the latter had to resort to mild lathi charge.
Shashikant Bhandare, senior inspector of Nirmal Nagar police station, said, “We have sent him for a Covid-19 test as he stays in a containment zone, and have not arrested him yet.”
In the second incident, a Kurla resident was booked for manhandling a PSI from Kurla police station around 6.30pm. Kakasaheb Nagave, 35, and his team were conducting a march on Kurla pipe road. The accused, Rizwan Memon, a resident of Wafati Lane building, began shouting at the police. “He asked us not to shut any shop on the pipe road and threatened to use his contacts in the National Investigation Agency against us. This led to an altercation, after which he manhandled the PSI and a constable. Some residents crowded the area and Memon managed to escape,” said Dattarey Shinde, senior inspector, Kurla station.
In the third incident, constable Suhas Desai, 50, was allegedly assaulted by a 41-year-old autorickshaw driver, Yar Mohammad Kalim Shaha, when the latter was questioned for loitering around at Govandi, around 6.30pm. The accused had also pelted a stone at the police.
2 testing centres for mumbai police
On Friday, the Mumbai Police started two testing centres for its personnel. The centre inside JJ Hospital premises has been opened for personnel in south, central and eastern suburbs, while the one at Jogeshwari has been opened at a private school near the eastern side of the station for the police personnel at western and northern region. Until Friday, 297 police personnel have been screened at these two centres and 125 swab samples have been collected.
2 cops tested positive
On Thursday two constables, both aged 32, from Sahar traffic division have been tested positive for Covid-19. The two are Kalyan residents and have been admitted to Vedanta Hospital in Thane. Police said they were infected after they came in contact with a constable posted in the central region control room who stays on their floor. About 10 constables from Sahar traffic division, who were in touch with the duo, have been sent in home quarantine.
The Mumbai Police has lost three constables to the virus and has reported 142 cases among its force until Saturday morning. Meanwhile, 342 police personnel tested positive for Covid-19 in the Maharashtra Police department in which 49 recovered and 290 are under treatment.
FIRs dip in city as cases rise
With the number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai witnessing a rise, the number of FIRs filed against violators is seeing a decline. On Friday, the police filed 64 against 99 people, of whom 39 have been arrested. Since March 20, the police have filed 5,665 FIRs against 10,683 people.
1 lakh booked in state
The Maharashtra Police have booked more than 1 lakh people, filed 89,383 first information reports (FIRs) and arrested 17,813 people across the state since March for flouting lockdown orders. Most of the FIRs are for crowding at one spot. The police had also collected fines worth of ₹3.14 crore.
A majority of FIRs (14,220) are from Pune city, followed by 10,490 FIRs in Mumbai.
(With inputs from Suraj Ojha, Faisal Tandel and Manish K Pathak)