10 MP policemen contracted virus from Jamaat men: IG

BHOPAL: The 10 policemen in Madhya Pradesh who have tested positive for Covid-19 probably got the virus from Tablighi Jamaat members, who were hiding in different mosques in Bhopal, a senior police official said.

Meanwhile, the number of health directorate staff who have tested positive for Covid-19 has increased to 38, according to government data. Senior health deparment officials, who, despite testing positive, insisted on being treated at home, were admitted to a hospital on Monday night. The total number of cases in Bhopal was recorded at 83 on Tuesday.

The 10 infected policemen include a city superintendent of police, a sub-inspector and eight constables ; five of their family members have tested positive too, government officials said.

Inspector general (IG) of police, Bhopal, Upendra Jain, said: “There is a 99.99% chance that our policemen contracted the virus while conducting a search to locate those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi, in various mosques (in the city).” According to the officer, as many as 32 jamaats including 7 foreign jamaats were traced as staying at various places in Bhopal. Of these at least 20 have ested positive. According to Jain, “all the police stations in Bhopal are being sanitised”and roughly 1000 policemen will stay in hotels. “

Later in the day, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a tweet: “All residents of Madhya Pradesh who went to Nizamuddin Markaz and those from foreign countries hiding in mosques have been identified and quarantined. But even after this if someone is hiding somewhere my request to him is to share information about him with the administration in 24 hours.” He warned, “If it is not done then administration will take necessary legal action by lodging criminal cases against them for jeopardising security of the state.”

In a late night action on Monday, the police shifted three senior state government officials including the principal secretary and the additional director of the health department to hospitals following an intervention by the CM, government officials said.

In a written statement on Tuesday night Commissioner, health services Faiz Ahmad Kidwai said, “An inquiry is being conducted to find out reasons behind a large number of Health directorate officials and employees having been infected ... responsibility will be fixed and necessary action will be taken.”