Bandobust duty in Tiruvannamalai has resulted in as many as 174 police personnel, including Superintendent of Police A. Pavan Kumar Reddy, testing positive for COVID-19 since January 1.
Police personnel were stationed at Veeralur, a tiny village on the foothills of Jawadhu Hills, near Tiruvannamalai town, after caste Hindus and the Arundhathiyars in the village clashed on January 11. The police managed to restore normalcy on January 16 with several rounds of meetings held with the representatives of the community.
“A sizeable number of the district police force have been infected,” R. Selvakumar, Deputy Director of Health Services, Tiruvannamalai, told The Hindu. Health officials said the total number of infected police personnel between January 1 and January 12 was only 22. The sudden spike in the number of cases, health officials said, might be due to bandobust duties. A total of 830 police personnel from Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Vellore were deployed in Veeralur village. With the announcement of elections for urban local bodies, the district needs around 5,000 police personnel for election duties. At present, the total strength of the force is 2,020. Vellore SP S. Rajesh Kannan, who recovered from COVID-19 recently, is in-charge of the Tiruvannamalai police.
