COVID-19: Markaz committee member in UP looking after guests from Nizamuddin booked

The police here have booked a member of Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz Committee a day after 14 people, including 11 Bangladeshi nationals, who had attended a religious congregation in Hazrat Nizamuddin area in Delhi, were admitted to the isolation ward of a hospital in the district.

The Markaz Committee member, Kamaluddin Ansari, had not informed the police about the people living in the guest house in Bhadohi.

According to District Magistrate Rajendra Prasad three Indians along with 11 Bangladeshi nationals, who were on tourist visa, came to Bhadohi on March 4 after attending the Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Delhi.

No information was provided by them or by the organisers in this regard. The Bangladeshi nationals were openly flouting visa norms by roaming and propagating religion, he said.

"A case has been registered against Kamaluddin Ansari, a member of Markaz Committee of the Tablighi Jamaat under various sections of the IPC, Foreigners Act and the Epidemic Act. The case was registered late on Tuesday night. Ansari did not inform the police about the people living in a guest house," Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh on said Wednesday.

"Ansari said on the advice of office bearers of Markaz Committee, he was looking after those staying in the guest house," the police officer said, adding that Ansari has also been quarantined.

On Tuesday evening, the SP had said that preliminarily no symptom of COVID-19 was found in the 14 persons, but as a precautionary measure they have been kept in isolation ward and their samples have been sent for testing.

Over 2,000 delegates, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin West from March 1-15.

"The 11 Bangladeshi nationals started from Dhaka on February 27 and reached Delhi's Hazrat Nizammudin Markaj. From there, 14 persons arrived in Bhadohi and were staying at a guest house of markaj since March 4. In past 25 days, these persons met many people," the SP had said.

"They also held religious gatherings at a mosque in Kajipur which were attended by hundreds of people," he had said.