18 April,2020 06:36 AM IST | Mumbai | Samiullah Khan
The security guard from Malad says locals told him the notes had been contaminated
The security guard described the duo as Muslims dressed in a pyjama-kurta and wearing face masks. stopped their motorbike near Rustamji Ozone tower, spat on two Rs 500 notes and threw on them on the ground.
The security guard said that he suspected both men to be infected with Coronavirus and to have spat on the notes to spread the infection.
The police control room alerted Malad police, whose Senior Inspector George Fernandes gathered a few personnel and went to the spot to question the caller.
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The security guard told the police that when he went to pick up the notes, some other people from the vicinity told him that a Muslim infected with Coronavirus might have spat on the notes to make the infection spread.
The security guard was remanded in judicial custody
He then stopped and called the police control room.
"The CCTV footage from the spot shows a man coming out of an IDBI Bank ATM located near Rustamji Ozone. While he was taking his motorbike's keys from the
pocket, two currency notes fell. He was unaware about it and left," said a police source.
The police traced the man seen in the CCTV footage, who said that he realised he had lost money after reaching home but did not know where he might have dropped it. The police are also verifying the rest of the security guard's story.
The security guard has been booked under Section 505 (2) (Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was remanded to judicial custody.
"Had the CCTV footage not been found, the accused's lie could have deteriorated the atmosphere of the city. Malad police's investigation stopped the spread of the rumour," said another officer.
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