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Updated: Apr 24, 2020 07:44 IST

Janata Dal(Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy has claimed two people among the 119 arrested for the violence against health workers in Padrayanpura area of Karnataka’s Bengaluru and currently lodged in Ramanagara jail have tested positive for Covid-19 and wants them to be shifted out of the district.

Kumaraswamy represents the Ramanagara constituency in the assembly.

“I had warned the government in the past too regarding this but my words went unheeded. Because of this Ramanagara has got coronavirus. Along with the two who have tested positive, seven or eight others were also transported,” the former chief minister said in one of his tweets.

Also read: Padarayanapura incident an act of ‘goondaism’, says Karnataka CM

He asked the government to immediately shift the prisoners as the people of Ramanagara are terrified that the coronavirus infections would spread. He also threatened that an intense protest would be launched if immediate action is not taken.

He also said that Ramanagara jail should be quarantined along with the police, security and administrative personnel in the jail.

Government officials were not available for comment on Kumaraswamy’s accusations.

The death toll due to Covid-19 in Karnataka increased to 18 as a 75-year-old woman, who had tested positive and was suffering from co-morbidity issues, died at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru where she was being treated.