MLC staff force his driver to leave q-centre, cops book him

Nagpur: A 28-year-old driver of an MLC from Amravati returned to Ravi Bhavan quarantine centre on Thursday evening after he allegedly was asked to follow the ambulance carrying three other staffers of his employer to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
An offence was registered against him for breaching quarantine guidelines and violating lockdown norms at Sadar police station.
The three, including two personal assistants (PAs) and one driver, had tested positive and were shifted to GMCH Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH), where the MLC was already admitted after reaching the city on July 12. The three were identified as high risk contacts of the MLC, they were tested and placed in institutional quarantine. The 28-year-old didn’t come in direct contact but as precautionary measure got himself tested along with the three. He tested negative.
Centre sources told TOI, on Wednesday that the three had asked the 28-year-old also to follow their ambulance in an MUV containing their belongings and luggage. An SUV, in which the corona positive driver and both PAs had accompanied the MLC from Amravati to Nagpur, is also parked at Ravi Bhavan.
Sources said the three had put pressure on the driver to leave the premises even though the nodal officer asked him to stay back. Two cops deployed at the entrance remained mute spectators as the MLC’s men violated the norms. The 28-year-old driver had followed the MLC and his staff in the MUV from Amravati. All the four were referred by GMCH.
Sources said the in-charge officer initially tried to call up the driver after he failed to hold him back within the premises. The 28-year-old reportedly assured the officer he would return once the three are admitted and their belongings shifted to the ward. When the driver failed to return for a long time, the officer informed Sadar police.
As the police called him up and counselled him to return, the driver arrived around midnight of Wednesday. He would have to remain in quarantine till July 26. Sources said this was not the first such incident at Ravi Bhavan where security is lax. Earlier too, some inmates had tried to escape but the attempts were thwarted by health officials. “Fearing infection, cops stay away even when inmates adopt a threatening posture,” sources said.
In March, the city police had booked a woman for breaching home quarantine norms. She had fled to UP.