Fines worth Rs 4.5 cr collected for lockdown defiance

In the last 57 days of the lockdown, state police have collected fines to the tune of Rs 4.5 crore for defiance of norms and registered over 1.10 lakh cases of violations and arrested almost 21,000 people.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the police force statewide. According to the latest figures released by the state police department, 11 from its ranks have died of Covid-19, eight of whom are from Mumbai Police, with 1,273 cases, including 131 officers so far. 291 have recovered until now.

During the lockdown, there were 240 incidents of assault on police, for which 819 people have been put behind bars. In all, 85 policemen and a Home Guard were injured in these attacks. The state also reported 38 attacks on health professionals.

Since vehicular movement is restricted during this period, there were 1,317 cases of illegal transport registered and 59,363 vehicles seized so far. The police helpline 'Dial 100' has received over 93,000 calls pertaining to Covid-19.

In all, 395 cyber offences have been registered in the lockdown, 169 related to objectionable WhatsApp forwards, 154 to objectionable Facebook posts and 18 related to TikTok videos. Total seven cases of objectionable tweets and other cases were related to other social media, said an officer from Maharashtra Cyber.

To reduce the burden on police, the state had sought 20 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces from the Union government, of which it has so far received four companies of Rapid Action Force, sent to different parts of Maharashtra. Three companies of the Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) arrived in the city on Sunday while another two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will arrive on Tuesday.