The investigation by the Delhi Crime Branch is indicating that audio clip which is mentioned in police FIR against Markaz Nizamuddin head Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, which suggests he had asked Tablighi Jamaat members to not to follow social distancing norms and prohibitory orders, may be stitched together using several audio clips.
The police have now sent all the audio clips and the alleged doctored clip to a forensic science laboratory.
The Delhi police has booked Maulana Saad and six other people associated with the management committee of the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat outfit on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (IPC Section 304) for allegedly going ahead with a gathering of around 2,000 people at the mosque in the Capital’s Nizamuddin West in late March despite warnings from authorities.
The FIR was registered on the complaint filed by SHO (Hazrat Nizamuddin) Mukesh Walia, who alleged that “an audio recording purportedly by Maulana Mohd Saad was found in circulation on WhatsApp on March 21, in which the speaker was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing, and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz”.
According to Indian Express, the police recovered a laptop from the Markaz member who put out their audio clips, and had gone through all. “After scanning them, police found there are over 350 audio clips in three forms — raw clips of Markaz events; audio clips sent to their followers; and ones uploaded on their YouTube channel,” a source said.
The audio clip which is mentioned in the FIR, a man is heard saying “there is no need for social distancing as it is not written in our religion”.
“The investigation team noticed that the viral audio is a mix of several clips, which have been edited and doctored. They heard all audio clips again and found that statements from around 20 had been used. Kumar informed his seniors about the development and was asked to send all clips as well as the viral audio to the FSL for further examination,” a source said.
Earlier, Special CP (Crime) Praveer Ranjan had said, “We have found an audio clip going viral on social media, and are now sending it to forensic experts. We are gathering evidence to substantiate that they went ahead with the event despite warnings by several agencies.” On Friday, he did not take calls or respond to messages.
