A 72-year-old man, who flew into India from Kazakhstan on a Vande Bharat repatriation flight on Saturday afternoon, escaped the mandatory screening process and skipped the subsequent institutional quarantine, the police said. He was tracked down to his daughter’s house in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram on Sunday, booked, and sent to quarantine for 14 days, after which he will be arrested.
The incident was reported on Saturday after the flight from Almaty in Kazakhstan had landed, and health care personnel at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport called out the man’s name for a mandatory screening.
As per the latest Union home ministry’s guidelines passengers who return to the country from abroad must be screened at the airport, then spend seven days in institutional quarantine, and another seven in home quarantine.
Deputy commissioner of police (IGI airport) Rajeev Ranjan said they received information from the Yamuna Vihar sub-divisional magistrate’s office that the person, a resident of Dilshad Garden, was missing from the entry gate at the airport’s Terminal 3 screening hall.
Officials said the man had deliberately escaped, in order to skip the screening procedure and subsequent institutional quarantine.
“A team even visited his Dilshad Garden house on Saturday, but he wasn’t there,” Ranjan said.
The police said they used CCTV camera footage and other electronic surveillance to track him down to his daughter’s house in Ghaziabad.
“Team members sent to bring him back were dressed in PPE suits. We brought him back to the airport on Sunday evening, and he was screened. He also produced some documents to prove that he is medically not fit and was therefore allowed 14 days home quarantine by health department officials,” the DCP said.
Ranjan said when police asked the man why he had fled, the passenger said he was not aware of the mandatory screening procedure.
“As per law he was booked under IPC sections 188 (for violating government order), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life). He will be arrested once he completes his home quarantine. Our men initially questioned him wearing PPE suits but he will be questioned at length only once he finishes his quarantine,” the DCP added.
