Two men, one of them wearing a PPE kit, were caught on tape rolling down a coronavirus patient's body from over a bridge into Rapti river in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district.
Hours later, the two were arrested, a senior police officer said.
The video was shot by some people who were driving by the spot. After the visuals surfaced, police registered a case.
Additional Superintendent of Police Arvind Mishra on Sunday told PTI, “The body of the deceased was sent home as per Covid protocol.
In this context, two persons have been arrested for violation of Covid protocol after a case was registered, following a complaint lodged by the CMO. The person in the PPE kit has been identified as Manoj, while the other person was the nephew of the deceased (who received the body).”
He added that the hunt is on for the third person, and investigations are going on.
Earlier, Balrampur's Chief Medical Officer Vijay Bahadur Singh said on Sunday that the body has been identified as that of Prem Nath Mishra, a resident of Sohratgarh in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharth Nagar district.
“Prem Nath Mishra was hospitalised on May 25 after he contracted Covid-19 and succumbed to the disease on May 28. The body was handed over to family members as per the Covid-19 protocol. In the video, which went viral on social media, it can be seen that the body was thrown into the Rapti river,” he said.
Singh said a case has been registered at the Kotwali Dehat police station in this regard.
