Maharashtra Police stone pelted in Aurangabad while trying to prevent religious gathering

Even as the Coronavirus tally in Maharashtra went up above 8000, a team of police personnel were pelted with stones when they went to verify a report about a religious gathering in Aurangabad district. Informing about the incident, a senior officer told news agency PTI that they received information about a religious event being held at a place of worship in Bidkin village of Aurangabad. A police official sustained minor injuries in the incident which occurred around 7:30 PM on Monday.

The district's Superintendent of Police Mokshada Patil told PTI that a case was being registered. "A team of Bidkin Police received information that 35-40 people have gathered at a mosque to offer prayers. When a police team went to verify this information, they were pelted with stones," she said. Police have taken 15 people in custody.

Religious and social gatherings are banned in view of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown across the country. This comes even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday appealed to Muslims to offer prayers at their homes during ongoing Ramzan month. 

READ | Coronavirus Live Updates

Covid cases in Aurangabad

Aurangabad reported 29 fresh COVID-19 cases and one death on Monday. With the detection of new cases, the number of infected people in the biggest city of the Marathwada region reached 82. 

Civic chief Astik Kumar Pandey said that more number of coronavirus suspects are being screened. "Our contact mapping is improved and our team is able to trace infected people as soon as possible. All the patients found positive today were already in our quarantine facility," he said. Aurangabad so far reported six deaths due to COVID-19 disease. Most of the deceased had comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension etc, said GMCH dean Dr Kanan Yelikar.

READ | Mumbai: '231 Areas Out Of Containment Zone List After No Cases In 14 Days', Says Mayor

Covid in Maharashtra 

Maharashtra again witnessed a rise in COVID-19 cases after 522 fresh confirmed novel coronavirus cases were reported on Monday, April 27. This included 369 patients from Mumbai. Thus, there are 8,590 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. With 5,776 COVID-19 cases and 219 casualties, Mumbai continues to be a major novel coronavirus hotspot in Maharashtra. 94 more persons were discharged in the day propelling the recovered persons' tally to 1,282. 

READ | Health Ministry: '1,396 Cases Reported In Last 24 Hours, Recovery Rate Soars To 22.17%'​​​​​​​ 

READ | Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rises to 8,590; death toll stands at 369 amid 27 casualties​​​​​​​