Former Director General of Health Services moves Delhi court blaming China for spread of COVID-19, seeks thorough probe

A complaint was filed on Tuesday urging a Delhi court to order an FIR and investigation as to how the COVID-19 “virus spread from China to India” (Dr Jagdish Prasad v. State)..Dr Jagdish Prasad, former Director General of Health and Services, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has called for a detailed investigation into the spread of the virus, while blaming China for it.“In view of the nefarious, terrorist, expansionist, aggressive and animus behavior of China at the borders in north-east region of India, it would be very dangerous to not undertake a detailed investigation qua the origins and spread of the virus from China to India so that the entire truth in this regard can come out and the guilty are punished in accordance with various provisions of Indian laws,” the plea stated..Prasad claimed to have undertaken a thorough analysis of the nature and origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is the cause of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. “Concerned by the fact that the origin and creation of the virus in China seems to be a mischievous handiwork of persons who seek to cause harm to India, with backing from the state authorities of China, the applicant is constrained to write the following complaint,” the plea filed through Advocates Mehmood Pracha and Jatin Bhatt stated.The application, filed under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, termed the spread in India as "tragic and extreme", causing deaths, diseases, and disability to thousands of people in the country, in addition to a “drastic economic downturn”.“Considering the nature of the deliberate and malicious origin of the virus, offences including those under Sections 16, 17, 18, 18A, 18B, 23 etc., of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Section 14 of the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005, and Sections 121/270/302/307/312/313/325/333/314 read with Sections 34/ 120B of the Indian Penal Code are made out,” it argued.