An MP from Jharkhand returned to Dhanbad late on Sunday night from Delhi in his car at a time common people are being demonised for having travelled before the lockdown or for resorting to desperate measures to be back with their families.

The MP, who sources said had gone to Delhi after Holi last month, has been quarantined at home.

His driver has also been home quarantined.

The district administration came to know of the MP’s return only on Tuesday.

“We came to know about his arrival from Delhi today (Tuesday) and thus put him on home quarantine immediately and simultaneously initiated the process for his medical examination,” said Dhanbad deputy commissioner Amit Kumar.

Sources in the district administration said a team of officials including Dhanbad block development officer (BDO) Uday Rajak and circle officer Prashant Kumar Layak visited the MP’s house on Tuesday, put him under home quarantine and took details of people who met him after his arrival at his home.

“Due to doctors being preoccupied with some other suspected cases of Covid-19, the MP’s medical examination could not be conducted today (Tuesday) but his examination will be conducted tomorrow (Wednesday) and if need be his sample collection will also be done,” Layak said.

Repeated efforts to contact the MP on his mobile failed as his phone was switched off.

Contacted, the BJP’s Dhanbad district president Chandra Shekhar Singh said: “The MP returned from Delhi late on Sunday night and is completely fit as I had been regularly talking to him. He obeyed the protocol for mandatory home quarantine as per the direction of the district administration.”