Gujarat Administrative Service officer Dhaval Jani tests positive for Covid

Accused of irregularities in the polls, Dhaval Jani was posted with Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) before being deputed on Covid-19 duty.

Dhaval Jani (42), a Gujarat Administrative Service (GAS) officer embroiled in the Bhupendrasinh Chudasama election case, has tested positive for Covid-19. He was on Covid-19 duty at the Civil hospital for over a month.

“I tested positive two days ago. I am asymptomatic and so I am in home isolation,” Jani told The Indian Express on Friday. The officer of the 2005-batch said his family, including his two children and wife, has been quarantined though they have not tested positive for the virus yet.

Jani was the returning officer at Dholka assembly seat where BJP candidate and sitting minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama won by a thin margin in 2017 Assembly polls. Accused of irregularities in the polls, Jani was posted with Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) before being deputed on Covid-19 duty.

At the Civil Hospital, Jani was one of the crisis men handling issues related to transportation, staff and food. “I have been at the hospital for the past 40 days,” he said. The officer has been handling a number of portfolios for peripheral duties along with five other deputy collectors and one additional collector. At the hospital, Jani handled data management and any crisis issue related to food, transportation and staff. He used to commute to the hospital in a car provided by GMRC