Akhil Gogoi tests Covid +ive in Guwahati jail
July 11, 2020 23:19
Peasant
leader Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested by the National Investigation
Agency for his alleged role in violent protests against the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act last year, tested positive for novel coronavirus inside
the Guwahati Central Jail on Saturday, an official said.
A
total of 55 inmates, including Gogoi, have tested positive at the jail,
forcing the authorities to issue orders for taking samples of all the
1,069 prisoners.
"Akhil Gogoi tested
positive in the antigen test this evening. He will be shifted to Gauhati
Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) now," Inspector General (Prisons)
Dasarath Das told PTI.
The health
officials did three tests of Gogoi -- two antigen and one swab test
(RT-PCR) -- and only the last antigen sample came positive, Das said.
Two others -- Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leaders Bittu
Sonowal and Dhairjya Konwar -- have also tested positive and are being
treated at the GMCH, while Gogoi's fourth associate, Manash Konwar, has
tested negative, Das said.
He stated that a total of 55 inmates
inside the jail had tested positive so far and they had been shifted to
three hospitals in the city.
"After this increased number, we have
now ordered to test all inmates of the jail," the IG said.
Civil
society groups, eminent persons and opposition parties have been long
demanding the release of Gogoi, citing the the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gogoi was arrested on December 12 from Jorhat as a 'preventive measure'
in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state during
the protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and
his colleagues were taken into custody later.
Reading 'Communist
Manifesto', Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Lenin's works, Mao Zedong's
life, and calling friends 'comrade' and greeting them with 'Lal Salaam'
are few of the grounds the NIA found to charge Gogoi and his three
accomplices with terror activities under the stringent Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act. -- PTI