JABALPUR/INDORE: One of the Indoreans booked under NSA for attacking a policeman in a containment zone four days ago tested positive for Covid-19 in Jabalpur on Saturday, where he was taken after arrest, triggering alarm bells in the administration of all the districts he passed through. Twenty-six cops were immediately quarantined in the two cities.Fortunately, Jabalpur jail superintendent Gopal Tamrakar was quick to notice that the suspect had Covid-19 symptoms. He decided not to take him and a co-accused to jail and sent them to hospital isolation instead. Otherwise, officials admit, they may have had a crisis within the prison walls.The policeman he had beaten and those who escorted him have been quarantined. Contact tracing is on along the entire 520km route.The duo had allegedly attacked a police team in Indore’s Chandan Nagar on April 7 and were arrested the same day. On April 8, they were booked under National Security Act and transferred to Jabalpur Central Jail.“I know Indore is a Covid-19 hotspot. So, when I saw that one of the accused had cough and cold, I sent them to Victoria Hospital ’s isolation ward, where his swab samples were taken. He has tested positive,” jail superintendent Tamrakar said.Jabalpur SP Amit Singh said that seven policemen from Indore had brought the accused to Jabalpur.The jail superintendent got suspicious on seeing that one of the accused was suffering from severe cold and cough. He informed me and the district collector.”“The eight policemen deputed at the hospital to guard the duo were sent in home quarantine today. Indore police have been informed and we have advised them to put the escort detail in quarantine,” Singh said.Indore DIG Hari Narayan Chari Mishra said they immediately home-quarantined 19 cops -- eight from Police Lines and 11 from Chandan Nagar police station -- who had come in contact with the detainee. The DIG said these cops had conducted his medical examination, taken his fingerprints and carried out other procedures of arrest. “We are tracing everyone the detainee came in contact with,” he said.Police refused to share information about the route they took and when they set off from Indore. But one of the cops said that they had stopped a few times at roadside kiosks for tea. A source said they took the Indore-Dewas-Bhopal-Vidisha-Sagar-Jabalpur route.On April 7, a police team was enforcing lockdown when it came under attack in Chandan Nagar. Four of those arrested were booked under the NSA. While two were sent to Satna, the others were sent to Jabalpur central jail.The accused who has tested positive had spent a night in the lock-up with the others. He was taken for medical examination to MY Hospital on April 8 and then sent to Jabalpur.