Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad Kandhalwi who is now in the eye of a storm over a spurt in coronavirus cases in the country following a congregation at Delhi’s Nizamuddin area was not in his hometown Kandhla in Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.
Maulana Saad has been in the news after at least eight people, who participated in a religious gathering at the Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaz (centre) in Delhi between March 13 and 15, died of coronavirus.
Saad and five other top functionaries of the Tablighi Jamaat were booked on Tuesday after its headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area emerged as the single biggest source of COVID-19 infections in the country.
After these reports surfaced, Markaz Tablighi Jamaat has issued an official clarification in a release where they said that it gives them immense pain to hear such things in the media and contrary to the reports of members being missing, they said as the premises have been sealed so the office bearers are operating from the home.
They also added that they haven’t received any copy of FIR with regard to members of Tablighi Jamaat getting booked and nor any official discussion on the same has happened.
Here’s the official press release:
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 24 people who attended the religious congregation at Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaz earlier this month have tested positive for coronavirus, while 1,548 have been evacuated and 441 hospitalised after they showed its symptoms.
After the matter came to light, the Centre and the Delhi government swung into action to trace people who attended the congregation. Six people from Telangana and one from Jammu and Kashmir, who attended the event, died due to coronavirus.
The Centre said 2,100 foreigners visited India for Tablighi activities since January 1 and all of them first reported at Tablighi Jammat’s headquarters in Nizamuddin.
What is Tablighi Jamaat? Here;s everything about Islamic group at centre of Nizamuddin Markaz fiasco
