3 cops succumb to Covid-19; state toll 65

Three policemen including an assistant police inspector died of Covid-19, taking the number of fatality in the state police force to 65. Of the three deceased, two

Three policemen including an assistant police inspector died of Covid-19, taking the number of fatality in the state police force to 65. Of the three deceased, two died in the past 48 hours while the third policeman had died five days ago but his post-mortem report on Friday revealed that he was Covid-19 positive. Meanwhile, 35 police personnel from Thane Police commissionerate tested positive on Thursday.

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Of the three deceased, the assistant inspector, aged 52, was posted at Samtanagar police station and developed symptoms of Covid-19 a week ago. After testing positive on June 26, he was admitted to Oscar Hospital in Kandivli for treatment where he died on Friday morning, a senior police officer said.

Another police officer said, “After 19 years of service in defence, he joined the Mumbai Police force as police sub-inspector in 2009.” His younger brother is also in the police force and is attached to Mumbai Police’s crime branch unit-11.

A 54-year-old head constable attached to the Thane Rural police headquarters succumbed to the disease on Thursday while undergoing treatment at Vedanta Hospital, confirmed Niket Kaushik, inspector general of police (Konkan Range).

“He showed symptoms on June 25 and tested positive on June 26. He was later admitted to Vedanta Hospital for treatment. He was given an aid of ₹1lakh for medical treatment,” said Shivaji Rathod, superintendent of Thane Rural police.

Constable tests positive after death

A constable was found to be Covid-19 positive four days after his death. The cop’s family had refused to accept the body, following which KEM Hospital conducted a post-mortem wherein the cop, posted in the Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC), was found positive.

He had suddenly fainted and collapsed at home on June 29. He was taken to KEM Hospital where he was declared dead minutes after admission.

The hospital informed his family that he died of cardiac arrest and was not conducting Covid test as ICMR guidelines prohibit post-mortem only for the purpose of testing if the person was Covid positive.

After the deceased’s wife tested positive, she demanded that a post-mortem be conducted of the body. Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, too, raised the issue with the government. The hospital was then allowed to conduct post-mortem as an exceptional case.

Speaking to HT the deceased’s wife said, “My husband had raised suspicion that he may have contracted the virus and was asking me and other family members to stay away from him. We wanted to take the body to Satara where our parents stay, but to ensure everyone’s safety we insisted on post-mortem.”

The state government has promised the families of deceased policemen a compensation of ₹50 lakh each. In addition, ₹10 lakh would be given from the Police welfare fund or Martyrs’ Funds and one family member of the deceased personnel will be given a government job.

So far, 2,906 policemen have tested positive for Covid-19 in city police force with 42 deaths. 498 policemen are undergoing treatment while more than 2,260 have recovered. In the state police force, around 4,800 personnel have tested positive, of whom, 1,025 are undergoing treatment. The death toll in the state police force is 65 now.

35 cops test positive in Thane commissionerate

As many as 34 police personnel, including a senior police inspector, from Thane Police commissionerate tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. The senior police inspector has been admitted to a hospital while five of his teammates have been quarantined.

The infected personnel are from different police stations including Thane Nagar, Shil-Daighar, Shrinagar and Naupada police stations. Some of the infected are also from the Quick Response Team and traffic department.

Deputy police inspector B Patil said, “The number of positive cases have increased as people’s interaction with police has increased after lockdown norms were eased last month. All these are field officers who contracted Covid-19 on duty. We have ensured that they receive proper treatment while their families are taken care of.”

Cyber police warns against sharing list of Covid patients on groups

The state cyber police department on Friday said many WhatsApp groups are sharing lists of those infected with Covid-19. “Such act amounts to an offence and if any person is found indulging in such act they would face lawful action,” said inspector general (cyber) in a statement.

Cyber police officers have appealed to all WhatsApp group administrators to remove those members who indulge in such unlawful act and change the setting of the group to ‘only admin’.

(With input from Anamika Gharat)