COVID-19 claimed 96 Mumbai police personnel in 2020

Nagpada police along with SRPF patrol the road before Hari Masjid at Moulana Azad Road during the lockdown. File pic/Suresh Karkera

The deaths in Mumbai's police force rose by 60% in 2020 compared to previous years. The death toll was the highest among city cops till now, as the COVID-19 pandemic claimed 96 of them. The month of June was the worst with 21 fatalities. An RTI reply to mid-day has revealed that in 2020, a total of 230 Mumbai police died of various reasons. Apart from COVID, heart and liver diseases topped the list of reasons. Fortunately, there have been no deaths among cops due to COVID-19 in Mumbai in the year 2021.

Police act against violators of the lockdown in Dharavi. File pic

India slapped a lockdown due to the pandemic in March 2020. Many of the Mumbai policemen and women, who were deputed to maintain law and order and strict implementation of the lockdown, got infected. "The first COVID-19 related death occurred on April 24, 2020, of Chandrakant Pendurkar attached to the Vakola police station. In the next three days, we lost two more cops due to COVID-19," said a senior police officer. In the recent RTI reply to mid-day, it was revealed that after April 2020, every second day there were deaths reported in the Mumbai police. In June 2020, there were 21 deaths in 30 days. "If we see figures for all of Mumbai or Maharashtra, June 2020 was the worst as far as pandemic deaths were concerned, even outside the police force," another police
officer said.

Apart from COVID-19, heart disease was the leading reason behind the deaths among cops. There were 28 deaths related to heart disease, while 16 were related to liver ailments.

Deaths due to COVID-19 in Mumbai police
January 2020 to December 2020
April - 3
May - 13
June - 23
July - 15
August - 14
September - 15
October - 8
November - 5
December - 0
Total: 96

Major reasons behind the deaths
COVID-19 - 96
Heart related - 28
Liver ailments - 16
Cancer - 12

No. of deaths by year in Mumbai police
2017 - 142
2018 - 129
2019 - 144
2020 - 230