Boalmari Upazila Executive Officer Jhoton Chanda on Friday imposed the Tk 20,000 fines on Hafizur Rahman, 36, a senior executive at Prime Bank’s local branch, and his wife Tayeba Akter Mila, 26.

Jhoton said Hafizur and Tayeba gave samples at the Upazila health complex on Apr 5 and the result of Tayeba’s test came back positive the following day.

The couple gave samples again identifying themselves as Ripon Khan and Nila Begum on Apr 8 and both tested positive.

They underwent the test a third time on Apr 21 by concealing their identity again. The results were positive.

Dr Khaledur Rahman, the Upazila health and family planning officer, enquired about Hafizur and “Ripon” eight to 10 times over phone.

At one stage of the conversations, Khaledur realised that Hafizur and “Ripon” were the same person.

He then informed the UNO about the matter.

Jhoton later fined the couple under the Infectious Diseases (Prevention, Control And Elimination) Act for hiding information about disease and harassing health workers.