Coronavirus outbreak has shocked the nation. The deadly virus is spreading rapidly and is affecting people worldwide. A man in Moscow tried to pull off a joke in Moscow metro, imitating the symptoms of coronavirus disease. This joke went wrong and created a panic among the people.
The man was arrested and sentenced to jail for five years. A joke on such a serious issue led to public panic and therefore the authorities took this strict decision.
Also Read: What Is Coronavirus? Know Its Causes, Symptoms and Prevention
As per the reports by CNN, a man was seen in footage that went viral. In the video, the man was seen collapsing on the floor and his friends announced to the people that he was was coronavirus infected. This led to a panic situation inside the metro.
Via: RT.com
The man who pulled out the prank was Karomatullo Dzhabarov from Tajikistan. The Russian authorities detained the man on February 8 for this act.
The Russian police charged him under Hooliganism, under which he was punished with five years of jail.
The video was posted by Karomatullo on his Instagram and youtube pages named Kara. Prank, the authorities identified these accounts and he was asked to leave them. The video has been removed from both the platforms now. Soon the interior ministry of Russia asked the accused to leave Moscow reported CNN.
According to Karomatullo’s lawyer Alexey Popov, they pulled off the prank to raise awareness about coronavirus. Naturally, it went wrong and he had to face the consequences.
Popov told CNN,
“This video should not be viewed separately from his other videos. They shot videos in stores asking people if they were aware of the coronavirus. They shot videos in pharmacies which were selling masks at inflated prices. They wanted to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem; there is no evidence of a crime.”
Certainly, the prank was not a great idea to make people aware of the deadly coronavirus.