At least 18 police personnel,including an officer, have died of COVID-19 in Maharashtra so far, an official said on Saturday.The Maharashtra police, which is ensuring a strict enforcement of the lockdown in the state, has been severely hit by the pandemic.As many as 1,671 personnel, including 174 officers and 1,497 other staffers, have contracted the deadly infection so far, the official said, adding that the Mumbai police had accounted for the highest number of infections and casualties in the department.At least 42 police officers and 499 constables, who had tested positive for COVID-19, have recovered from the infection so far, he added.Apart from the risk of infection, the police also had to face public ire while enforcing the lockdown in different parts of the state.As many as 246 incidents of assault on police were reported across the state, in which 85 police personnel and one Home Guard were injured, he said.The Maharashtra Police has registered over 1.1 lakh offences under section 188 (disobeying an order issued by a public servant) of the IPC and 22,753 persons were arrested in these cases, he said.The police also tracked down 680 quarantine violators in the state, excluding Mumbai, the official said.During the lockdown, the police registered 1,317 offences of illegal transport and seized 69,435 vehicles, he said, adding that fines to the tune of Rs 5.22 crore were collected for various offences.
