The Varanasi district administration collected swab sample of a 30-year-old woman from China, who was found staying on rent in Lanka police station area on Monday, for coronavirus test. The house owner, Sambhav Chaturvedi, has been booked for hiding information about the woman and illegally using his house for tourists, said Station House Officer, Lanka police station, Bharat Bhushan Tiwari. The woman, who came to India on a tourist visa, had been staying in Varanasi since February. She initially stayed at a guest house and later shifted to the flat, police said. Residents claimed that they were told that she was from Manipur so they never raised voice against her stay, police added. The case against Chaturvedi has been lodged under IPC section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life). The police had also invoked Foreigners’ Registration Act and Sarais Act, said Tiwari. Varanasi SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary said no action against the woman was taken because she was carrying valid documents and she did not violate visa norms. “The woman does not have any coronavirus-like symptoms. Her sample has been collected for coronavirus test. She would be kept in a quarantine,” said Varanasi Chief Medical Officer Dr BB Singh. As a precautionary measure, the district administration team will sanitise the flat. “We are also trying to collect the travel history of the woman to decide the next course of action,” said Singh. According to Tiwari, acting on an intelligence input, police reached the flat located at Sanket Nagar colony and found the Chinese tourist staying there. “She carries a valid visa and documents with her. Her visa is valid to stay in India till September. She claimed that she came to India on January 29 and stayed in Delhi for some days. She came to Varanasi on February 26,” said a police officer. She initially stayed at a guest house near Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi. After the police started putting pressure on guest houses not to allow any foreign tourists following coronavirus outbreak, she shifted to the flat. “In the second week of March, the woman contacted her tourist guide, saying the guest house owner was not allowing foreigners to stay,” said Tiwari. “The guide contacted Sambhav Chaturvedi and on March 21, she moved to his flat. She decided to extend her stay as the lockdown was announced after a few days. When the survey was going on, residents told police that the woman was from Manipur,” said Tiwari. Circle Officer, Bhelupur, Sudhir Jaiswal said Chaturvedi did not inform the district administration about the foreigner at his flat. “Chaturvedi was using his flat for the stay of foreigners without getting it registered,” said Jaiswal. He added that during the stay, she did not move out of the flat.
