The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two people seen in a viral video dumping the body of a COVID-19 patient from over a bridge into the Rapti river in the Balrampur district.
Police had registered a case after the video, shot by people driving by the spot, was widely circulated on social media platforms.
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"The body of the deceased was sent home as per COVID protocol. In this context, two persons have been arrested for violation of the 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)," Additional Superintendent of Police Arvind Mishra told PTI.
He further said that the hunt is on for the third person, and investigations are going on.
Also read: UP: Video shows COVID-19 victim's body being thrown into river in Balrampur, police book relatives
Earlier, Balrampur's Chief Medical Officer Vijay Bahadur Singh had said 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.
Several bodies were seen floating in the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in the state earlier in the month, triggering apprehensions that these were of COVID-19 patients. The authorities too had urged people not to dispose of bodies in rivers.
The officials were also instructed to take strict action against those found throwing the COVID-19 victim's corpse into water bodies.
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