Congress corporator held for defaming BMC, violating Covid-19 norms; gets bail

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A Congress corporator was arrested by police on Tuesday for allegedly defaming the Mumbai civic body and violating coronavirus norms at the airport here, an official said. According to the official, the corporator, Sufiyan Niyaz Vanu, surrendered before the police and was formally arrested in the case that goes back to May this year.

He was later released on bail, the official said. In May, Vanu reached the international airport after a woman, who was going to Saudi Arabia, sought his help after being stopped by BMC officials at the airport for coronavirus testing, he said.

The woman subsequently tested positive for coronavirus and was asked to quarantine herself, the official said. However, Vanu took the woman out of the airport despite she testing COVID-19 positive at the aerodrome, he said. The corporator maligned the BMC's image by making false allegations and claiming "scam" in the name of coronavirus testing, he said.

The Congress leader also made several other allegations related to quarantine procedure for air travellers and posted them on social media platforms, the official said. In May itself, an FIR was filed against Vanu on a complaint of an on- duty BMC official and he was booked under IPC sections 188 (disobeying the order of public servant) and 500 (punishment for defamation), among others, he said.

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