Guard who alerted on cat in container sacked

A private security guard who had identified the presence of a cat in a container that arrived from China at CFS in Manali and had alerted officials over the coronavirus fear, has been sacked by his superiors.

“The cat and the container are still at CFS but I have lost my job as the importer is angry with me. I alerted officials only because of the virus scare,” claimed security guard Nagaraj (45) while talking to DT Next.

He pointed out that he heard the cat in distress from inside the container. “So I drew the attention of one of the officials. The cat was inside a small cage. The container had reached Chennai on February 7 and none knows how the animal survived for so many days. I did my duty and now am out of a job,” said Nagaraj. 

He has approached the cops and now hopes to get his salary dues from the security agency he worked with. He was paid Rs 11,000. Nagaraj believes that his agency will deny paying him his dues since he was the whistleblower behind the cat detection. 

When contacted, Manali police inspector Kannagi claimed the police are in the know of the discontentment between the guard and his employer. “It seems the guard wasn’t following the dress code. We have asked the employer to settle his dues,” the officer said.