New Delhi: More than 25,500 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country till now, a senior Union Home Ministry official said on Monday.
During the daily briefing, Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava also told reporters that five villages in Haryana have been sealed and the residents quarantined as members of this Islamic organisation had stayed there.
She said that 1,750 foreign-based members of this the Jamaat, out of the total 2,083, have been blacklisted till now.
Srivastava said that Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has written to all states and Union Territories asking them to ensure that the supply chain of medical oxygen, critical for treatment of COVID-19 affected people, should go on smoothly while following norms of social distancing.
Cops serve second notice to Tablighi Jamaat chief
The Delhi Police has served a second notice to Mohammad Saad, Tablighi Jamaat chief, on Monday and sought additional information and documents from him pertaining to congregation of Tablighi Jamaat at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz.
A case has been registered against him and six other members of the Tablighi Jamaat for organising a congregation amid lockdown because of COVID-19 in India. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police is probing the matter and Deputy Commissioner of Police Joy Tirkey is supervising it.
Saad has been served notice under section 91 (summons to produce document or other things) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The police have sought only information from him.
The investigators have stated that they do not want Saad to join the probe as of now.
However, Shahid Ali, a lawyer hired by Tablighi Jamaat, told IANS that they have not received any second notice from police as of now. Saad had informed police that he is in self-quarantine and shared his address with the police.
Further, for two continuous days, Tirkey along with his team went to Markaz in Nizamauddin to collect some evidences. He also spoke to some of the people living in the nearby areas.
Earlier, Saad, through his lawyer, had submitted some documents, mostly in Urdu, to police. The police had served notice to Saad and sought answers and documents on 26 queries. The lawyer Shahid Ali had stated that they had submitted only available information to police and sought more time as the entire Markaz is closed and lockdown is implemented. (Agencies)
