Delhi police registers FIR against management of Tablighi Jamaat, case transferred to Crime Branch

Photo: Twitter/IANS

Members of Tablighi Jamaat who had assembled at Nizamuddin Markaz in New Delhi were made to vacate the place on March 30 (File Photo: Twitter/IANS)

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against the management of Tablighi Jamaat headquartered in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin area and handed over the probe to the Crime Branch, top police sources said.

“We have to look into several aspects, such as after March 18, how many people reached the Jamaat headquarters,” said a senior Crime Branch official.

“We’ll also ascertain if the local police station and the Special Branch of Delhi Police are right in their respective position vis-à-vis acting on government orders to enforce ‘Janata curfew’ and later the countrywide lockdown.

The Special Branch is responsible for collecting daily information on all the invitees, especially the foreign participants, to the religious congregation. The local police station is supposed to monitor if the congregation followed all government orders.

Tablighi Jamaat Markaz is also 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 crowd 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 already reported that such religious followers have already been found corona-positive.

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

(The headline of the story has been modified by EP Web Desk)

IANS