Infosys employee arrested over 'spread-the-virus' post, company sacks him

A software engineer working for Infosys has been arrested for giving a call" to the people to sneeze in the open and spread coronavirus, police said.

The person identified as Mujeeb Mohammad had made this call in a Facebook post.

"Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus," he wrote.

"The person who put this post saying people should go out and sneeze and spread the virus has been detained. His name is Mujeeb. He works in a software company," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Infosys on Friday said it has terminated the services of the employee who had made an "inappropriate post" on social media related to the coronovirus outbreak.

Infosys, in a tweet from its official handle, said the social media post by the employee is against its code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing.

"Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees, and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity," it noted.

The Bengaluru-based company further said the company has a "zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee".

The deadly coronavirus, which started in China and has spread to many parts of the world. In India, the number of positive cases in India touched 834, and has claimed 19 lives so far.