Nizamabad deputy mayor and others booked for "obstructing"

A case has been registered against the Nizamabad deputy mayor, belonging to the AIMIM, and others for allegedly obstructing police and health officials from performing COVID-19 lockdown duty, police said on Thursday.

A video showing some persons purportedly arguing with a police official was also telecast by local news channels.

According to police, the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon in Nizamabad, when the police sub-inspector and a medical team went to the area after receiving information about the death of a 83-year-old woman (onMonday night), whose house is located in front of a COVID-19 positive patient, in order to shift the woman's family for government quarantine purpose.

However, when the police and medical staff were on their work at that time Nizamabad deputy mayor Mohammed Idris Khan and a AIMIM corporator and others reportedly argued with the SI and the medical staff telling them not to shift all the family members in quarantine, a police official said.

When a doctor and other medical staff tried to explain to them about the need for quarantine of thedeceased woman's family members, they allegedly told them "what is the necessity when the test results would be negative", police said.

The family members were willing to shift to government quarantine but the deputy mayor and others "interfered", police said,adding they were also told that if they had anyobjections for government quarantine they caninform the district collector and seek permission for home quarantine.

Later the family members were shifted for quarantine and subsequently police registered a case under various IPC sections including353(Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) against the deputy mayor, corporator and others, the police official added.

The exact cause of death of the elderly woman was not clear while thepositive COVID-19 patient isundergoing treatment in a state-run hospital in Hyderabad, police said.