A 27-year-old person accused of a petty crime arrested by Hazaribagh police on Monday, escaped from police custody from Covid-19 ward of Hazaribagh Sadar hospital on Thursday morning where he was hospitalized after his Covid test had turned positive. However, police arrested him later from the Town area.

Health staffs noticed him missing from the ward around 8 am when they visited the ward for routine check-up and likes. “He was under treatment at the hospital under police custody. He somehow entered inside the bathroom by somehow removing its lock. The bathroom was not under use. He jumped out of the window of the bathroom,” said sub-divisional police officer of Hazaribagh; Kamal Kishore.

The incident had left the district police panicked as there was a high chance that the accused can infect a large number of people as a single source.

The person has already forced Hazaribagh district administration to impose lockdown in some of the parts of the district besides administration had to seal two police stations Korra and Sadar police station where the accused was kept after arrest.

As many as 75 police personnel from Korra and Sadar police stations besides cops in PCR duty who had come in contact with the accused during and after his arrest; have been placed under institutional and home quarantine.

All of them have undergone the Covid-19 test. 

A native of Matwari locality he was arrested on Monday (July 6) when he was trying to escape after stealing cash from the cash counter of a shop under Korra police station. He was caught and thrashed by local residents who informed police later on.

He was kept in the lock-up room of Korra police station. But in the evening he was transferred to Sadar police station for night stay since the lock-up room of Korra police station has no proper facility like a bathroom.

Before sending him to jail; on Tuesday the Covid-19 test was conducted upon the accused.

District administration and police were rattled when his test turned positive. Both police stations were sealed and adjoining areas of police stations were declared as containment zones. District administration sealed three important thoroughfares namely Main road, Guru Gobind Singh road, Congress office road situated in contaminant zone.

However, to the relief of the district administration the accused was arrested by police from Gandhi Maidan area of the town, sources said.