72-Year-Old Kazakhstan Returnee Flees Screening At Delhi To Avoid Quarantine, Found At Daughter's House
Even at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases is being reported at an all-time, it seems like people are willing to break the rule, for their own convenience.
A 72-year-old man who returned to Delhi on Saturday night on a Vande Bharat repatriation flight from Almaty in Kazakhstan created a scare after he went 'missing' from the airport.
Harjeet Singh, a resident of Dilshad Garden, arrived in Delhi on flight number AI 1916 went missing from the entry gate of the screening hall at Terminal-3 of the IGI airport.
After it came to light that Singh is missing, police were informed about it by the Yamuna Vihar sub-divisional magistrate, following which a probe was launched.
"On the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday information was received from SDM Yamuna Vihar staff that one person namely Harjeet Singh who had travelled by AI1916 ALMATY (Kazakhstan)-DELHI on Saturday was missing from the entry gate of?screening?hall at Terminal 3 IGI airport," said Delhi Police.
During the investigation, it came to light that the mobile number and address given by Sing on arrival were not in use.?
After an extensive search teams were formed and dispatched to hunt for the missing man.
However, with the help of CCTV footage, the vehicle in which Singh left the airport was identified and he was tracked down in daughterĄ¯s house in GhaziabadĄ¯s Indirapuram on Sunday.
The 72-year-old allegedly skipped the screening to avoid the mandatory institutional quarantine for all foreign retureens.
According to the Union home ministry's guidelines passengers who return to the country from abroad must be undergo?screening?at the airport and then spend seven days in institutional quarantine, and another seven in?home quarantine.
Singh who initially claimed that he was unaware of the mandatory screening later produced documents to argue that he is medically not fit and was therefore allowed 14 days home quarantine.
After he was tracked down, Singh has been sent to 14 days home quarantine after which he will be arrested.
An FIR has been registered against him under section 188, 269, 270 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3 Epidemic Act.
As of Monday morning, the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi stood at 83,077.
