Police said that the arrests come at a time when social media and the national dailies have been cataloguing an ever-growing number of dead bodies amid a rising number of COVID crisis in the country.
"The accused used to steal the shroud used to cover the dead, their clothes, sarees, among other things," said police.
During interrogations, Circle Officer Alok Singh said it was revealed that they used to steal bedsheets, sarees, and clothes of the dead. Among the items recovered are: 520 bedsheets, 127 kurtas, 52 white sarees, and other articles of clothing.
According to the officer, the men would again sell it using a Gwalior company's label by putting the articles to a good wash and post ironing them. The police also found that some clothing merchants from the area had cut a deal with these men and paid them Rs. 300 for a day's loot.
Mr Singh said out of the seven arrested, three are from the same family. These people have been stealing for the last 10 years. Since, they have been arrested during the COVID crisis, other than stealing they will also be charged under the Epidemic Act.
Earlier on Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government further extended the state-wide curfew till May 17 to cut the chain of transmission.
On Friday, Indore Police arrested 2 ward boys for molesting a COVID-19 patient. The accused have been identified as Shubham and Hridyesh. "Both the accused tried to molest a COVID-19 patient in the chest ward of the MY Hospital. The incident took place on the intervening night of May 5 and May 6," said Ashutosh Bagri, Superintendent of Police, Indore.
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