A BJP councillor who tried to stop the cremation of a Covid-19 victim claiming the virus would spread through smoke was booked by Kerala police on Monday.

Councillor T.N. Harikumar and 30 others have been booked under provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act.

On Sunday evening, Harikumar had created a scene by claiming that coronavirus would spread through the smoke and ashes in refusing to allow the last rites of a Covid-19 victim at the crematorium in Kottayam.

On testing positive, health authorities had applied the Covid-19 protocol and decided to cremate the body at the public crematorium in Kottayam town.

District health authorities and the local municipality had decided to cremate the body of Ouseph George, 83, who had died on Saturday, after his Covid-19 test came positive following his death. They even had the consent of his family.

A Dalit Christian, who had worked for 35 years in the Kottayam municipality, George belonged to the Pentecost Mission.

The BJP leader and the locals questioned why he could not be buried in a Christian burial ground. Subsequently, the health officials explained about the Covid-19 protocol that suggests cremation as the safest option.

Egged on by Harikumar, the local residents who had blocked the only road to the crematorium, refused to move.

A video clip from the protest on Sunday evening showed Harikumar yelling at a health official. “You take it to your house,” the BJP councillor could be heard shouting at the official.

The protesters quickly erected a bamboo barricade to prevent any vehicular movement to the crematorium. Armed police later removed the barricade.

Eventually, the body was taken to the crematorium under heavy police escort at around 10.30pm on Sunday.

State finance minister Thomas Isaac tweeted his angst about the Opposition parties trying to “undermine” the government’s Covid-19 management.

“When I tweeted about BJP and Congress undermining the public trust in Covid fight, some said I was being partisan. Now hear the latest, BJP councillor in Kottayam leads a crowd to prevent cremation of a deceased, in a public cemetery. Reason, Covid may spread through the smoke!”

Harikumar did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

Kottayam district CPM secretary N.V. Vasavan, who played a major role in defusing the tension, told The Telegraph on Monday that the situation had threatened to go out of control with the BJP councillor egging on the residents not to give up.

“It’s simply ridiculous to say that coronavirus would spread via smoke. The BJP councillor spread lies to scare the local people,” said Vasavan.

The CPM leader spoke to the local people for several hours until they backed down.

“The BJP councillor has brought huge shame on our state by selectively targeting the last rites of a Dalit Christian man who had served the society for 35 long years,” said Vasavan.

The CPM leader noted that it was the first such incident in Kerala. “We have never seen such an incident since the outbreak of coronavirus. The BJP must take the blame for the councillor’s shameful attempt to disrupt the cremation,” he added.