KARIMNAGAR: A shop owner and the local corporator clashed over whether the former should be under quarantine due to COVID-19 at Karimnagar here on Tuesday. A video clip of the incident went viral on social media on Wednesday. When a 58-year-old grocery shop owner in the town tested positive for the virus, police and medical staff had advised him and his family members to undergo home quarantine.
The owner’s son runs a steel and cement store, and he, too, had decided to down the shutters after completing formalities. At this time, local corporator Thota Ramulu, along with a few men, went to the shop and objected to it being kept open. The corporator asked the store’s owner to shut down the store immediately, and as tensions flared, the corporator allegedly hit him. The owner reacted and pushed the corporator, causing him to fall down. The corporator was then restrained by the people accompanying him.