Dhanbad MP P. N Singh may have cleared his Covid test on Monday, but one of his bodyguards could not, because of which his house at Dhansar was sealed on Tuesday.

Dhanbad SDO Raj Maheshwaram who supervised the sealing operation, said, “We have sealed the house and have begun the process to declare it a containment zone. A contact tracing process has been launched and accordingly, other family members, including the MP, would be tested if necessary.”

The bodyguard, who used to live in a room at the MP’s house, had returned from Bengal two days ago after visiting his relatives. He tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday.

The MP was tested two days ago as he said he had come in contact with a journalist, who later tested positive. The MP’s representative Nitin Bhatt also underwent a Covid test. He too cleared it.

“We have put the MP on quarantine and appropriate action as per testing requirement would be taken,” said Dhanbad deputy commissioner Amit Kumar.

Earlier on April 16, after Singh returned to Dhanbad from Delhi, he was tested along with his driver and staff.

A relative of a local MLA of Dhanbad fled after testing positive for Covid-19 on Monday. Police said he was convinced that he would not survive the disease that had claimed several people in Dhanbad. But health officials managed to contact him on telephone and on Tuesday, brought him back to Dhanbad. He has been admitted to the Covid hospital of Dhanbad.

Also, 23 out of 26 journalists who had tested positive on June 9 and was admitted to the Covid hospital of Dhanbad, were released late on Monday night after their test reports came negative.