Four persons, including the imam of a mosque in Meerut, were arrested on Saturday, after a crowd allegedly stopped police from sealing the Jali Kothi area of the city, police said.
Three persons from the area had tested positive on Friday night. “The area was to be sealed on Saturday morning. But when the city magistrate and the police tried to carry out the orders of the District Magistrate, a crowd gathered near the Daree Wali Masjid area and stopped them from carrying out their duty. Some stones were hurled at officials. They were pushed and shoved, leading to a minor injury to the city magistrate,” said Meerut Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Sahni. “Action has started against the four under the National Security Act. We are making announcements that strict action would be taken those who will interfere in the work of the district administration,” Mr. Sahni said.
Attack condemned
Sheher Qazi Zainus Sajidin Siddiqui condemned the attack. “Three persons belonging to a religious group were taken to hospital last night [Friday] and the officials came to take some others today [Saturday]. There are unverified reports that the policemen used abusive language but throwing stones at officials cannot be justified. I have appealed to all to cooperate,” he said.
Meerut has 51 COVID-19 positive cases so far.
In a related development, a 58-year-old Ayurvedic doctor in Bulandshahr died in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday, after testing positive for COVID-19, a district information department release said. With this, the death toll in U.P. has reached 5.
SDM Vedpriya Arya told The Hindu that the person was admitted to a Bulandshahr hospital on April 7. “Later, he was referred to Delhi where he tested positive on April 10. His clinic has been sealed. His son and wife have been quarantined in Delhi while two others have been tested and put in home quarantine,” he said. He added that the nurses have been sent to institutional quarantine. “We are trying to find all the patients who visited the hospital in the last 14 days. Their samples will be taken.”
According to the release, the Bulandshahr hospital has also been sealed and the samples of the doctor and medical staff are being taken.
