Bengaluru, Dec 7 : The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has filed a case under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020 against a South African national for fleeing the country while under quarantine in Bengaluru, police said on Tuesday.
The South African national was among the first two persons to be detected with the Omicron variant in the country.
Authorities were embarrassed by his departure before the results were available.
The 66-year-old man had managed to produce a negative RT-PCR test result report from a private lab to return to South Africa, via Dubai, even before test results of genomic sequencing came.
BBMP Medical Officer at Shivajinagar, Dr Naveen Kumar had lodged a complaint at High Grounds police station in Bengaluru in this connection.The complaint also mentioned the negligence of the hotel staff.
The South African was quarantined at a star hotel on November 20 after he tested positive for Covid-19 at the Kempegowda International Airport here.The hotel management was also informed.
The staff released the South African on November 27, however.Police questioned staffers and they claimed that he was released after he had submitted a negative test result to a private lab .The South African had also submitted the same negative RTPCR certificate at the KIAL, and was cleared.Sources said that he is the head of a pharmaceutical company in Johannesburg and came to Bengaluru to take part in the board meeting.
The Karnataka government, on December 3, took a decision to order a probe into this case.Revenue Minister R.Ashok stated that the government has taken the issue seriously.
“As discrepancies are suspected over the South African national’s exit from Bengaluru, we have directed the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru to initiate inquiry into the issue,” he said.
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