11 Tablighi Jamaat members including 8 foreigners booked by Hyderabad police
The Hyderabad police have booked 11 members of the Tablighi Jamaat, including eight foreigners who visited the city on a tourist visa and were allegedly involved in preaching activities.
The Habeebnagar police have also booked the Telangana state president of the organisation, Ikram Ali.
Speaking to TNM, Habeebnagar Station House Officer (SHO) P Shiva Chandra said, “Eight of them are foreigners while three of them are Indians. Of the three Indians, one is the state president (Ikram Ali) and one is a secretary of the organisation. The third is a guide who brought the foreigners from Korutla in Jagtial district to Hyderabad.”
The case was registered under Sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 and 270 (Acts likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code, besides the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Foreigners Act, 1946.
“They came to India on a tourist visa but they violated the conditions of the visa and were indulging in religious preaching. Though they took a tourist visa, their purpose was to carry out preaching in masjids, houses and other places,” the SHO added.
With all those who attended the event in New Delhi traced along with their contacts, the Telangana government is now planning to register more cases across police stations based on the areas that members of the Jamaat visited.
Already the Ramagundam police and the Karimnagar police have registered a case against a group of 10 Indonesian preachers from the Tablighi Jamaat who tested positive for COVID-19 and brought the issue to light in the state.
A police investigation found that the Indonesians had reached Ramagundam on March 14 after travelling in coach number S9 of the Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti (train no 12708), visited a local mosque and travelled to Karimnagar in a private vehicle, where they continued their activities for two more days.
After the incident involving the Indonesians came to light, eight more Indonesians and 12 nationals from Kyrgyzstan were found in Hyderabad’s Mallepally mosque, the nerve centre of Tablighi activity in the city. The entire area has now been sealed off and is one of the main containment zones in the city.
Another group of 12 preachers from the Tablighi Jamaat from Vietnam were also traced to Nalgonda town and quarantined.
The Telangana government had asked people who attended the religious gathering in Delhi to voluntarily come forward and report themselves to officials. Stating that all attendees and their contacts had been traced, the government said that it was conducting tests and providing them with free treatment.
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