Puzhal prison staffer suspended for refusing work citing corona fear

Though senior prison officials insisted that no one in the prison complex was infected, sources said three of the eleven foreign nationals were found positive after a test was done at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

According to an order issued by SP of Central Prison I, chief head warder B Saravana Kumar was suspended last week as ‘it was found necessary in public interest to place him under suspension’.

He was accused of saying that three of the foreign nationals lodged at Borstal school were COVID 19 positive, and that the doctors declared them negative without adequately testing. He refused to obey superior’s order, and also took leave without informing superiors, the order said. Saravana Kumar is also charged with spreading rumours among other jail staff about coronavirus spread in the prison complex.

Though some of the inmates were sent for test on Saturday after they showed symptoms, senior officials were insisting that none in the prison complex was infected.

However, sources said three Bangladeshi nationals were tested positive. Based on doctors’ request to bring them to the hospital’s quarantine ward, officials have reportedly sent the members of the group to the hospital.