Didn't hide in airport toilet to skip screening, got no quarantine advisory: Kanika

Bollywood Desk: Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, who tested coronavirus positive on Friday, has said that she did not try to skip any screening, adding that she had to be after the authorities to get the test done. Kanika is being blamed for negligence, not practising social distancing and even attending parties despite having returned from London earlier this month.

Lucknow Commissioner of Police, Sujeet Pandey confirmed that an FIR was lodged at Sarojini Nagar police station under Indian Penal Code section 188, 269, 270 on the complaint of Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow. He said two more FIRs are likely to be registered in the matter at Hazratganj and Gomtinagar police stations, for her three different gatherings in the area, post her return from London on March 11.

Asked if she hid in the bathroom to escape screening when she arrived in India from London on March 9, Kanika told Times of India in an interview, “There are these silly rumours that I hid in the washroom to skip screening. Tell me, how is it possible for a person to skip screening at immigration while coming on an international flight? I was properly screened at the Mumbai airport and I stayed in the city for a day. But since everything was closed and no work was happening (because of the industry lockdown due to the coronavirus spread), my parents suggested I come home. So I reached Lucknow on March 11 by the morning flight. And one can check, at that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago.”

BJP MP Dushyant Singh and his mother and former chief minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje are two prominent leaders, among several others, who came in contact with Kanika after her return and have put themselves under self-isolation. Several other MPs including Derek O Brien of the TMC and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal also quarantined themselves realising they had come in contact with Dushyant Singh.

About attending social gatherings and even hosting parties, Kanika clarified she did not host a party. “I never hosted a party. I attended a small birthday bash, which Vasundhara Raje ji has also tweeted about. There were several politicians there, including Dushyant Singh, but it wasn’t as big a gathering as it is being made out. It was a small one where I was a guest, not the hostess. For this, too, I’ve given the health officials names of all those who were at the party,” she further said.

She insisted that she did not neglect the threat at all. “I called my friend, who heads a local hospital to, get my blood samples checked for the virus. He suggested that I approach the state health authorities for it. When I called the helpline numbers, after hearing out my symptoms, they said it doesn’t seem like the coronavirus, and it might just be the seasonal flu. But I kept insisting, and it was only after I pestered them that the CMO sent people to take my samples. I was the one who pestered the authorities, who I felt were taking things lightly. It took them three days to send someone to collect my sample and test it. From Monday till then, I had confined myself to my room. The moment I felt sick, I called up the authorities. So tell me, who’s been lax?” she told the daily.