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Updated: Mar 23, 2020 11:42 IST

The Lucknow police are now frantically searching for a Mumbai based entrepreneur, Ojas Desai, who was present with singer Kanika Kapoor at Hotel Taj and left the city on March 16. While the police have tracked over 260 people who interacted with the singer but Ojas Desai has remained untraceable.

Chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Narendra Agarwal said that they had been trying to track down Desai but did not have his exact address in Mumbai or his whereabouts. The singer is in quarantine and cannot be questioned at this time, he added.

The Hotel Taj, however, has sent 11 of its employees who interacted with Kanika during her two day stay at the hotel into quarantine. “We are keeping close watch on their health and necessary checks are being done,” said a hotel official. The Hotel Taj has been shut down by the Lucknow administration after it was found that the singer had stayed there.

Meanwhile, the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) where Kanika is presently admitted, has said that her second test on Sunday also showed that she is Coronavirus positive. SGPGIMS director Prof R.K. Dhiman said that the singer was doing well otherwise but would remain in hospital until she tested negative for the virus.

On the other hand, Dr Narendra Agarwal, has also admitted to lapses in the report, based on which a case was filed against Kanika. He has written to the district magistrate and police commissioner, requesting them to make ‘corrections’ in it.

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The complaint filed by the CMO at Sarojini Nagar police station on Friday night had stated that Kanika had tested positive on her arrival at Amausi airport on ‘March 14’ and was asked to isolate herself for 14 days, but she continued socializing, which amounts to disobeying a government order.

The CMO has now clarified that Kanika had been advised 14-day self-isolation as per government guidelines when she landed at Mumbai airport from the UK, and not at Amausi airport in Lucknow.

Kanika came to Amausi airport on a domestic flight while thermal scanning was being done only for international arrivals.Besides, there is no COVID-19 confirmatory test which can be done at the airport. Only thermal screening is being done at airports, which only detects body temperature.

Kanika came to Lucknow on March 11 and kept moving around, meeting people, visiting places and attending parties. She also stayed in a five-star hotel for two days during this period, the CMO said in his letter.

The complaint on the basis of which the FIR was lodged had several inaccuracies. It said Kanika had tested positive at Amausi airport. It also mentioned her age as 28 whereas she is 41.

Further, she arrived in Lucknow on March 11, but the complaint said she came on March 14 while her address was mentioned as ‘unknown’. The CMO said it was ‘clerical mistake’ and refused to comment further.

(With HT inputs)

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