Nizamuddin Jamat members traced to 16 Delhi locations, immediate action sought

The locations mentioned in the letter are well spread out to different corners of the state, from Bhalswa Dairy in the northeast to Pul Prahladpur in the south.

Delhi police special branch has written to the Delhi government’s health department seeking immediate action to mitigate the “grave threat” of coronavirus infection spreading in at least 16 different locations in the national capital that were not conducive to maintaining social distancing and were close to 200 members of the Tablighi Jamaat, headquartered in Nizamuddin’s six storey building, including foreigners, were staying.

Delhi police says the members of Nizamuddin religious congregation were found in 16 different locations in Delhi )(PTI Photo)

The letter from the Delhi police, which has been seen by Hindustan Times, also says that the places where these religious preachers/activists are staying are for common use (Mosques) and therefore pose a “grave danger to public health”.

The locations mentioned in the letter are well spread out to different corners of the state, from Bhalswa Dairy in the northeast to Pul Prahladpur in the south. The letter lists other areas-- Chandni Mahal, Turkman Gate, Wazirabad, Malviya Nagar, Hauz Rani, Shashtri Park and Welcome--- where these individuals have spread out and asks for immediate necessary action.

A home ministry release earlier today had said that it has directed all states to identify, locate and quarantine people who had fanned out from the Nizamuddin base of the Jamaat and could possibly aid in spreading the infection in other states. States like Tamil Nadu and Telangana have reported cases of infections from among the people who came in contact with some of these preachers.

The exercise to identify people from Tabligh Jamaat has assumed greater importance since it came to the light that 24 of the congregants of the religious gathering in Nizamuddin had tested positive and over 400 others had shown symptoms, following which they are being monitored in quarantine.

Several hundreds of Jamaat members, including close to a thousand foreigners, have spread out to over a dozen states including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand among others and effort are on to trace them.

Delhi police today registered an FIR against the organizer of the Jamaat amid questions if the gathering had violated the ban on religious gatherings or the lockdown provisions put in place to enforce social distancing.