KATHMANDU, Sept 7: Six people amongst the 17 arrested for beating an on-duty traffic police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday.
A police team from the Lalitpur Metropolitan Police Range had arrested a total of 17 people, who had mercilessly thrashed on-duty traffic police constable Kamal Prasad Ghimire in Mangalbazar area on Thursday. One of the arrested persons had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
Then all others arrested for the same crime were tested for the virus. On Monday, the test report of five of them came positive while the test report of five others is yet to come.
Trace and test
Despite the prohibitory order issued by the local administrations in the Kathmandu Valley, locals of Lalitpur had organized a chariot-pulling procession of Rato Machchhindranath on Thursday afternoon.
Police had obstructed the locals who started a chariot pulling procession of Rato Machhindranath at Pulchowk, citing the prohibitory orders issued by the local administration against organizing such festivals.
But the situation had soon turned violent as local youths started pelting bricks and stones on police officers on duty. Following this, police used tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Moreover, some youths had also gathered to attack Ghimire, recklessly dragging him down from his motorcycle and aggressively throwing stones at him.
Videos of Ghimire being attacked by the public had soon gone viral on social media, courting criticisms and demands from all around to arrest the ones who were involved in the act.
Four other police officers and three locals were also injured in the clash.
Apart from the locals, 18 police officers who were involved in the clash had also tested positive for the virus on Friday.
