More than 300 police officials from the Bengaluru City Police are on tenterhooks as they anxiously await their coronavirus test results.
After five accused in Padarayanapura vandalism case tested positive, several officers, including Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, additional commissioner Soumendu Mukherjee, five DCPs and inspectors who went to Padarayanapura and later inspected the place where the accused were kept, decided to undergo test for COVID-19.
Speaking to DH, Rao said that more than 38 people, including ACPs, inspectors and constables who were primary contacts of the five accused, are under home quarantine. We are expecting all their test results on Monday.
Working at checkpoints and being deployed in sealed areas is a very risky and stressful job. The city police team has done their job very effectively but now their lives are in danger. But we are making all efforts to provide the necessary equipment to protect them from the virus, Rao added.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai also visited the Padarayanapura ward the next day after the incident. But Rao said the Home Minister was not tested as he did not enter the spot where the accused had been kept.
Following the vandalism at Arafat Nagar in Padarayanapura and the subsequent assault on police, BBMP and health workers, five FIRs were registered. Rao had formed six teams and 12 special teams of the CCB to nab the accused.
Later, police arrested 126 accused. Before shifting them to Ramanagara prison, they were kept at a building in Koramangala, where 30 policemen interrogated them.
As the accused were brought in various police and private vehicles, policemen are now worried.
Soon after learning about the positive cases on Friday, the police department prepared a list of cops who came in contact with the Padarayanapura accused.
Samples of the policemen were collected at the General Hospital in Jayanagar on Saturday and sent for testing.