A first information report was lodged against five persons and several others in Jharkhand’s Palamau on Sunday on charges of attempting to organise a cricket match between teams from the district and Garhwa amid Covid-19 restrictions, police have said.

This comes a day after an FIR was lodged against unidentified people in Garhwa for encouraging a group of rural women to organise an Adhaar card puja to ward off the coronavirus and get Rs 5,000 credited to their Jan Dhan bank accounts.

“Following a tip-off from local boys, the police visited the playground and dispersed the spectators,” Palamau superintendent of police Ajay Linda told The Telegraph Online. “We succeeded in averting a huge gathering before the match could start.”

While no arrests have been made in connection with the case so far, Linda said the accused had been charged with sections under the Disaster Management Act. “The organisers have violated the lockdown restrictions, and social distancing could have gone for a toss because of their ignorance,” said Linda. “We will take strict action against those involved.”

New cases of Covid-19 have been on the rise in Palamau and Garhwa, especially after the return of migrant workers. According to National Health Mission (NHM) figures, at least 78 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Garhwa and 27 in Palamau. The idea of organising a cricket match amid such a crisis was nothing less than inviting trouble, the police said.

The match was organised on the playground of a school at Manjhagawan village, 200km north of Ranchi, where local residents are yet to become aware of social distancing norms, the police said. While some local residents claimed that the organisers of the match had a political affiliation, the police rubbished the rumours and said the lack of awareness led to the decision of organising the match.

Cricket has found popularity in the remotest of villages in Jharkhand — the state from where former Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni rose to fame. However, all sporting events have remained suspended here since the imposition of the lockdown in March.

Cases of Covid-19 infection crossed the 1,000 mark in Jharkhand on Saturday. The trajectory of Covid-19 transmission here has seen an upward trend since the first week of May, and the government is taking additional precautionary measures to check the spread of the virus.