mid-day impact: FIR filed against fliers who bribed their way out of quarantine

On April 3, civic officials had dropped this international traveller (in red T-shirt) at Kurla after his arrival. Pics/Satej Shinde

By: Shirish Vaktania, Diwakar Sharma and Samiullah Khan

Shaken by a mid-day investigation that uncovered a nexus of civic officials, touts and hotels helping international fliers escape the mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine, the BMC has registered cases against two such travellers. The civic body launched a probe on its own and scanned CCTV footage of hotel premises before booking the two men who had arrived in the city on April 2 from Gulf nations. The Sakinaka police are now looking for the fliers.

The two men, identified as Imran Mohammad and Farid Iqbal, had been shifted to a hotel after their arrival at the international airport.

"After mid-day's report, we conducted an in-depth inquiry and found that two international travellers had escaped from an Andheri hotel. We instructed the L-Ward to register an FIR in this matter as per jurisdiction. We are also conducting an inquiry into who are involved in this racket," said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Parag Masurkar.

mid-day team trailed many BEST buses and individual travellers for four days to uncover the corrupt practices

BMC officials said they have begun checking the records of 80 hotels marked for institutional isolation.

L ward Assistant Commissioner Manish Valanju said the two travellers were ferried in a BEST bus to Seven Olive hotel at Safed Pul, Sakinaka, on Andheri-Kurla Road. They also checked into the hotel and shared the details of their passport, Aadhaar and other documents. He said, "We sought their details from the airport authority. We also checked the CCTV footage of the hotel which showed that the two had entered the hotel but fled from the premises."

In its expose, mid-day had shown that civic officials would make every attempt to show the entire process in compliance with BMC norms. They would ferry the passengers in BEST buses, make them check into a hotel before dropping them at other locations to facilitate their journey home.

Pointing towards the connivance of the hotel, Valanju said, "We will register a case against the hotel for allowing the international travellers to escape and not informing the BMC. They are equally involved in this matter."

Senior Inspector Balvant Deshmukh of Sakinaka police station confirmed the registration of the case by the BMC's L ward.

"We have registered the case under IPC sections, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Both accused are wanted. We will take
details of these passengers from the airport and will arrest them."

April 2
When the two fliers had arrived in the city