Despite the nationwide lockdown and strict surveillance against inter-state movements, several instances of people violating the restrictions are being reported, the latest being a school teacher from Kerala crossing borders to Karnataka through Wayand with help of an excise inspector from Kerala.
A Malayali couple even managed to travel by road from Delhi to Kerala crossing many states and one of them was even tested COVID positive the other day, while a doctor couple who tried to cross over to Kerala from Tamilnadu to reach Thiruvananthapuram was booked by the police on Thursday.
The police registered a case against the teacher who crossed over to Karnataka on Tuesday and efforts were on to trace her present whereabouts. The excise inspector was also arraigned in the case.
The teacher working at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Thiruvananthapuram allegedly traveled from Thiruvananthapuram to Wayanad using a police pass. Parents of some of her students in high positions allegedly helped her obtain the pass. An excise inspector helped her cross the border at Muthanga and one of her relatives was said to be waiting there to take her. She was traveling due to an illness of a close relative in Delhi.
Wayanad district police chief R Ilango told DH that the exact whereabouts of the teacher was not yet on. A probe was being conducted to find how she obtained the travel pass how the excise inspector helped her in crossing the border.
A couple hailing from Kottayam district in Kerala, who came down from Australia to Delhi on March 20, traveled to Kerala after last week by car with the help of one of their relatives, reportedly a police official in Delhi. At Tamilnadu - Kerala border, Kerala officials stopped them and kept on observation. The woman was tested COVID positive on Tuesday and the authorities passed on the information regarding their relative to authorities in Delhi.
In the wake of several instances of people trying to illegally cross over to Kerala, especially from Tamilnadu, and many testing COVID positive, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan warned of stringent action. Even rackets that help people cross the border through pocket roads were also allegedly prevalent. Instance of people crossing the borders by hiding in good trucks were also foiled by the police.