Coronavirus: Seven named in FIR in Tablighi Jamaat case, search on for Markaz chief Maulana Saad

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has named seven people in its FIR in connection with the religious congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat held at Markaz Nizamuddin – its headquarter in the national capital – and the ensuing stay of people at the premises, sources said on Wednesday (April 1, 2020).

According to sources, Markaz chief Maulana Saad, Dr Zeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, M Saifi, Younus, Mohammad Salman and Mohammed Ashraf have been named in the FIR filed in connection with the case. The FIR holds those people responsible for the gathering which took place at the Markaz headquarter, and states that visitors were allowed to continue living in the premises despite a notice being issued to them on March 24.

Meanwhile, a search has also been launched for Maulana Saad, who remains untraceable as yet.

Whereabouts of Maulana Saad are not known since March 28 when he was served a notice by Delhi Police, sources said.

A huge religious gathering was held at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin between March 13-15, the gathering came into the spotlight after over 24 people who attended the event tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier on Wednesday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that a total of 2,361 people were evacuated from Markaz, Nizamuddin in a joint operation that lasted 36 hours.

"In the last 36 hours we have run a very extensive operation in coordination with medical authorities, police, DTC and others and the operation went on till 4 am in the morning. A total of 2361 have been evcuated from there, out of them 617 have been sent to hospital while the rest have been sent to different quarantine facility," Sisodia said.

Sisodia thanked all the staff who were involved in the evacuation while and FIR has been registered against the organisers.

"I want to thank the administration and medical teams and all others who took part in this operation," he added.

Tablighi Jamaat Markaz has been booked for violating the Epidemic Act provisions and also IPC Section 120B (criminal conspiracy). The Crime Branch will also question the Markaz chief as well as Saad Kandhalvi, who organized such a large gathering of the sect`s followers in a situation where coronavirus infection spreads quickly.

Crime Branch sources said it would now look for those who participated in the event and then dispersed to various parts of the country, many among them carrying the deadly corona infection. Many states have reported that such religious followers have already been found coronavirus positive.

Besides, it would also list out foreigners who might have already left for their countries.

Nizamuddin Markaz and the area around it being is being sanitised by a team of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation after the people were brought out by earlier today