A Noida youth has been accused of firing at a friend for coughing during a game of ludo, fearful that he would contract the coronavirus.

According to eyewitnesses, Gullu Singh, the accused, and Prashant Kumar, both in their 20s, were playing ludo in the verandah of a temple at Dayanagar village in Noida’s Gautam Buddha Nagar on Tuesday evening when the incident took place.

The eyewitnesses said Gullu had warned Prashant when the latter coughed. When Prashant coughed again, Gullu allegedly shouted, “will you give me the coronavirus?” and took out a revolver and shot at him.

Prashant suffered a leg injury and is receiving treatment in hospital, said additional commissioner of police Rajesh Kumar Singh. The officer said Gullu was absconding.

Doctors attacked

In Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, 160km east of Noida, over 100 people attacked a team of doctors who had come to take the family members of a coronavirus victim to a quarantine centre.

“Two doctors, some paramedical staff and four constables had gone to Nawabpura to take the family members of a man who had died of coronavirus infection to a quarantine centre. The six family members of the diseased had got into the ambulance. But soon a group of people arrived and said they would not allow the family to be taken to the quarantine centre as they claimed there was no arrangement for food there,” a member of the team said.

“While they were showing a video purportedly of one such centre in the city, the policemen abused them. This angered the people and they began hurling stones at us,” the team member said. “The policemen ran away, but the rest of us were trapped. The people also damaged the ambulance.”

Chief medical officer M.C. Garg said a doctor, S.C. Agarwal, had been hospitalised with a head injury. Two other medical staff also suffered injuries.

V.P. Rama Shashtri, the additional director-general of police, said: “We have taken the family members of the diseased to a quarantine centre and a force has been deployed in the area. Those who attacked the medical team will be booked and arrested.”

Sayed Masoom Ali, the local imam who reached the spot on the request of the police, said: “We appeal to the people to cooperate with the doctors and the administration.”