Mumbai: The novel coronavirus has struck close to the centre of power in Maharashtra, with two bodyguards of Tejas Thackeray, the younger son of Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray testing positive for the infection.
Shiv Sena sources confirmed the development.
“However, the two were with Tejas a week ago,” added a Sena source.
Tejas, who is Environment Minister and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya’s younger brother, is a wildlife enthusiast, and has a menagerie of animals and birds in the backyard of their bungalow ‘Matoshree’ in Mumbai's Bandra East area.
Tejas has discovered three species of freshwater crabs endemic to the Western Ghats, one of which was named after his family. Recently, he had also discovered a large-bodied, rupicolous dwarf gecko species in the Western Ghats, which is a biodiversity hotspot.
In April, three policemen on duty at Matoshree had tested positive for the virus, and a female police official posted at Varsha, the official residence of the chief minister at Malabar Hill, had also been found to be coronavirus-positive.
A tea vendor near Matoshree, where the chief minister’s staff often go for drinking tea, had also tested positive.
