Ranchi, Jul 27 (IANS): A murder accused and coronavirus positive patient escaped from the Covid-19 centre in Latehar district of Jharkhand on Monday, police said.

According to Police, the man was arrested on July 14 in the murder case of a BJP leader Jay Bardhan Singh. He was taken on police remand for interrogation. Before sending him to police custody, his sample for Covid-19 was tested and the murder accused was found positive.

He was admitted to the Covid-19 centre situated at Rajahar in Latehar district on Saturday. The accused escaped on Monday.

His escape has put a question mark over the security at Covid centres in Jharkhand. This is not the first case of an accused escaping from a Covid-19 centre.

A thief had escaped twice from a Covid-19 centre in Hazaribagh. He had reportedly infected many people. Questions were also raised when three women were found to be pregnant at a quarantine centre in Ranchi.

In the last 24 hours, more than 600 coronavirus positive cases have been found in the state. The total number of cases has crossed 8,700 in the state.