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Missing Nizamuddin Markaz Maulana claims he’s in quarantine at undisclosed place

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Maulana Saad Kandalwi of Nizamuddin Markaz and six others for violating government orders on management of the Markaz in relation to social, political or religious gathering amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.

Missing Nizamuddin Markaz Maulana claims he’s in quarantine at undisclosed place

Markaz Tablighi Headquarter, Nizammudin outside Coronavirus ward. (Photo: IANS)

Even as Maulana Saad Khandhlawi, the chief of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin continues to be at large, it is reported that he has claimed that he has gone into quarantine in an undisclosed place.

The Delhi Police’s crime branch has been conducting raids at several places in the national capital and in Uttar Pradesh also since Wednesday.

Caught in the eye of a storm over sheltering more than 2,000 religious followers in a Delhi mosque during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Amir (chief) of Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad Khandhlawi has been a controversial Muslim cleric for years.

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Maulana Saad who claims to have over 100 crore followers in nearly 200 countries, functions from Nizamuddin mosque, which serves as a global Markaz (centre) of Tablighi Jamaat.

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Maulana Saad Kandalwi of Nizamuddin Markaz and six others for violating government orders on management of the Markaz in relation to social, political or religious gathering amidst the Coronavirus outbreak.

Six people include Maulana Saad, Dr Zeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, M Saifi, Younus and Mohd Salman, the organisers of a religious congregation last month that saw over 3400 people gathered in the Nizamuddin Markaz building ignoring social distancing norms.

Another person Mohammed Ashraf’s name has also been included in the case FIR.

The FIR says these seven were responsible for the gathering and they allowed visitors to continue living in the building despite notice issued to them on March 24, the day the country went into a total lockdown to fight the spread of coronavirus.

Tablighi Jamaat Markaz is also booked for violating the Epidemic Act provisions and also IPC Section 120B (criminal conspiracy).

The Delhi government had on Monday directed the police to register an FIR against Maulana Saad after several cases of suspected coronavirus were found in the Nizamuddin area.

The gathering, which featured sermons, was attended by Tablighi members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia. Members had also come from Afghanistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, Fiji, France and Kuwait.

States such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh have identified hundreds who attended the event and have now been quarantined.

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