KOLKATA: A CISF official in Kolkata died of coronavirus, taking the death toll due to the disease in the paramilitary forces to six with 18 fresh cases being reported on Tuesday, officials said.
The total active COVID-19 cases in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), with the latest additions and as per data accessed by PTI, stands at 779 now.
CISF Assistant Sub Inspector Jharu Burman, 55, posted at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSEL) security unit in Kolkata, died of coronavirus on Monday, a senior official of the force said.
The GRSEL is a strategically important warship building facility on the banks of the Hooghly river that caters to the combat requirements of the Navy and the Coast Guard.
The CISF was deployed here in 2016 to proving an anti-terror cover to the facility.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Burman was under treatment at a Kolkata hospital since he tested positive for the disease on May 5, he said.
The official was a resident of Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal.
Earlier, a Central Industrial Security Force ASI posted at the Indian Museum in Kolkata and a head constable-rank official posted to guard the Mumbai international airport had died of COVID-19.
This is the sixth death due to COVID-19 in the CAPFs or paramilitary forces, under the command of the Union home ministry, with two casualties in the Border Security Force and one in the Central Reserve Police Force.
The CISF, with about 1.62 lakh personnel, also saw five new cases of the disease over the last 24 hours, all of them in a unit that guards the Delhi Metro.
The maximum of COVID-19 cases in the CISF, at 29, are in the Delhi Metro security unit followed by 28 in the contingent that guards the Mumbai international airport.
The force has 68 active cases now.
The BSF, which has the maximum positive cases among the CAPFs, saw nine fresh cases since Monday.
It has a total of 288 active coronavirus cases now apart from one trooper who has recovered from the infection.
The country's largest paramilitary, the about 3.25 lakh personnel strength Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), saw two fresh cases from its units based in Delhi, taking the active number of cases in its establishment to 243.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control with China, saw two fresh cases, taking the number of its active COVID-19 cases to 159.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the 80,000 personnel strong force guarding Nepal and Bhutan borders, reported no fresh case on Tuesday and its active cases are 21 at present.