Separate houses for cops for safety of family members

After a number of Mumbai Police personnel have requested for arrangement to send their families to their hometowns to ensure safety of their family in case the personnel

After a number of Mumbai Police personnel have requested for arrangement to send their families to their hometowns to ensure safety of their family in case the personnel contract Covid-19 while discharging their duties, Mumbai Police has denied them any permission. However, top Mumbai police officers have asked all five additional commissioners of police to arrange accommodation for police personnel who do not want to go home. More than 1,700 accommodations at hotels, guest houses and lodges have been arranged for police personnel to stay.

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The request by police personnel to send their families away comes after 64 police personnel, including 12 officers and 52 men, tested positive. Of them, 34 are Mumbai Police personnel.

“With the lockdown being extended till May 3, a lot of people from the force are circulating messages on messaging groups where talks of sending their families to native villages are being suggested. It is also because there is no clarity yet if the lockdown will continue after May 3,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity. However, deputy commissioner of police (Operations) and Mumbai Police spokesperson Pranaya Ashok dismissed any such permission being granted. “We are not giving any such permission. The rules are the same for general public and for the police department. We are taking all possible measures to ensure safety and security of our personnel from the pandemic,” he said. Ashok added that most police personnel who have tested positive are asymptomatic.

Vinoy Kumar Choubey, additional director general of police (law and order) confirmed the development about accommodation for personnel. “We have asked officers to arrange alternate accommodation for men who do not want to go home till the lockdown ends.”

In Mumbai’s western region (Bandra to Andheri, and to Powai), seven vanity vans have been deployed at checkpoints for women officers and staff, said additional commissioner of police (West region) Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma.

Man from sealed building tweets to police, gets help

A Goregaon (East) resident, who along with 200 other families were living in a building which was sealed following Covid-19 cases, tweeted to police on Wednesday asking help for food supply to all residents. Mumbai Police promptly responded to the tweet and provided contact numbers of online delivery suppliers for essential services and urged him to share it with other residents. The user thanked the police for their help.

Two TikTok users arrested, minor caught for making video

A TikTok user and his aides, including a minor, were caught for making a 16-second video passing derogatory comments on Mumbai Police for cracking down on lockdown violators. After the video went viral, netizens brought it to the notice of Mumbai Police on their Twitter handle and got them arrested. The accused are Sahil Sardar,19, and Raj Nirman,18. The third is a 17-year-old minor whose parents have been warned. So far 10 TikTok users have been arrested for making such videos.

Burglar digs tunnel, steals 1kg silver

A burglar, taking advantage of the lockdown, entered a jewellery shop in Andheri (East) by digging a tunnel into the shop and stole more than 1kg silver early on Tuesday. Jagdish Shinde, senior inspector. MIDC police station, said, “The owner of Mahavir jewellers came to know about the incident on Wednesday and informed us, following which we registered an FIR against an unknown person and started investigation.”

Mumbai Police now on Instagram

After Twitter, the Mumbai Police have opened an official account on Instagram. However, they have urged people to reach out to them on Twitter on their helpline 100 for real time support and guidance.

324 violators booked in 165 FIRs on Tuesday

On Tuesday, 324 people were booked in 165 FIRs for violation of lockdown orders, across the city. 186 violators have been arrested. A majority of FIRs were from central (61 FIRs) and western region (52 FIRs). Of the total cases, 88 cases were for gathering in one place while 59 were for not wearing masks. The rest were against shops for operating without being part of essential services.

Maharashtra police updates

A total of 62,987 FIRs have been registered against lockdown violators across the state. Of these, 595 cases are against home quarantine violators. 477 people have been arrested in 134 cases of police assault, including a lynching incident in Palghar. Around 13,869 people have been arrested, 44,135 vehicles have been seized and ₹2.41 crore have been collected as fines.

(Inputs from Jayprakash Naidu, Suraj Ojha, Vijay Kumar Yadav, Faisal Tandel and Pratik Salunke)