BHOPAL: A 27-year-old man arrested for allegedly murdering a man after he refused to engage in a same-sex relationship has been found to be HIV-positive, prompting police and health authorities to trace his possible contacts.
The accused was arrested in connection with the murder of a 37-year-old labourer from Mandideep in neighbouring Raisen district. The victim's partially decomposed body was found under a culvert near Ecological Park in Katara Hills on May 29.
Police said the accused confessed to killing the man after he allegedly refused to engage in a same-sex relationship.
“A case of murder was subsequently registered against the arrested man recently, whose questioning in police remand, revealed that he was tested positive for HIV/AIDS in 2022, while he was lodged at the Bhopal Central Jail in connection with unnatural sex case lodged at the MP capital’s Misrod police station area,” a senior Bhopal police official told TNIE.
Further investigation found that the accused has been undergoing Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) at a state government hospital in Bhopal.
“We’re now trying to get details from the hospital and other sources not just to know the line of medical treatment, but also find out the possible contacts, who may have also got infected with HIV/AIDS,” the officer said.
The development comes weeks after a woman arrested in an alleged honey-trap case in Bhind district was found to be HIV-positive during a medical examination. Police said she had been undergoing ART for the past three years.
Police and health authorities in Bhind are also tracing her possible contacts to identify those who may have been exposed to the infection.