Man skips airport screening process, tracked down to daughter’s house

NEWDELHI: A 72-year-old man, who flew into India from Kazakhstan on a Vande Bharat repatriation flight on Saturday afternoon, escaped the mandatory screening process and skipped the subsequent institutional quarantine, the police said. He was tracked down to his daughter’s house in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram on Sunday, booked, and put in home quarantine for 14 days, after which he will be arrested.

The incident was reported on Saturday after the flight from Almaty in Kazakhstan had landed, and health care personnel at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport called out the man’s name for a mandatory screening.

Deputy commissioner of police (IGI airport) Rajeev Ranjan said they received information from the Yamuna Vihar sub-divisional magistrate’s office that the person, a resident of Dilshad Garden, was missing from the entry gate at the Terminal 3 screening hall.

“A team even visited his Dilshad Garden house on Saturday, but he wasn’t there,” Ranjan said.

He was tracked down to his daughter’s house in Ghaziabad.

“We brought him back to the airport on Sunday evening, and he was screened. He produced some documents to prove that he is medically not fit and was therefore allowed 14 days home quarantine by health department officials,” the DCP said.

When asked why he had fled, the passenger said he was not aware of the mandatory screening procedure, the police said.

“As per law he was booked under IPC sections 188 , 269 and 270,” the DCP added.