Senior cop succumbs to Covid weeks after brother’s death in UP’s Etah

A senior police officer in Etah district died of Covid-19 on Wednesday morning despite having received the second vaccine dose over a month ago.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rahul Kumar, 45, was a 2001-batch Provincial Police Service (PPS) officer and was posted in Etah as Superintendent of Police (Crime) in July 2019.

Kumar was exercising in the morning when he felt uneasy and was taken to the district hospital where doctors declared him dead, said Etah Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Umesh Kumar Tripathi. An antigen test conducted on the body revealed that Kumar had Covid-19, Tripathi added.

ASP Om Prakash Singh said Kumar’s elder brother, who was a lawyer, died of Covid-19 in Prayagraj on April 14. The officer was unwell since returning from Prayagraj, and even developed Covid symptoms.

“Rahul went on home isolation and he was not deployed on panchayat election duty. Rahul rejoined the force and was on duty on May 2 and 3 when counting of votes was done,” Singh added.

Additional Director General (ADG) of Agra Zone Rajeev Krishna said Kumar had completed his inoculation, having received the second shot about one-and-a-half months ago.

According to officials, a couple of weeks ago, an inspector posted in Kumar’s department died of Covid-19 even though he too had received both his vaccine jabs. Inspector Anil Kumar Singh breathed his last April 24.

“I have no information about the cause of death. My father had received both doses of vaccination. He got the second dose on March 16,” said the late inspector’s son Abhishek Singh.

Rahul Kumar is survived by his wife and two daughters. According to UP Police records, 4,117 police officials, including 143 gazetted officers, are undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at present. Since the pandemic started last year, 143 police officials have died of the respiratory disease while 13,824 have recovered.