KOCHI: A case has been registered against 79 people for organising a mass reception for a reality show contestant on his arrival at the Cochin International Airport despite restrictions on such gatherings in view of the coronavirus threat.
The contestant, Rajith Kumar and his supporters allegedly created a chaos at the airport on Sunday by violating the directive issued by the government to prevent spread of novel coronavirus in the state.
It was seen as a big health hazard as a UK citizen who was found positive for COVID-19 was offloaded from a flight minutes before take-off as he attempted to give the police a slip and leave the country.
Moreover, Kerala has reported 24 coronavirus positive cases so far.
The Nedumbassery police have booked a case against four named accused and 75 identifiable persons under sections 143, 147, 149, 188 and 283 of IPC.
The sections are Unlawful Assembly, Rioting, Disobeying orders of a public servant and causing obstruction to public way and thereby causing danger for the general public.
There is also a High Court ruling that there should be no procession around 500 metres from the Airport.
Ernakulam district Collector S Suhas slammed the behaviour of the crowd at the airport premises at a time when all sections of the society were on high alert over the spread of novel coronavirus.
(With PTI inputs)