Eight Tanzanians held for violating lockdown orders in Pune

TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 05:53 IST

Representative image

PUNE: The police on Sunday arrested eight Tanzanians for violating lockdown orders and placed them under institutional quarantine.
Police said the arrested were found to have visited eight mosques and others places in the city between March 11 and April 3. They were taken into custody from a mosque in Nanapeth. “They are members of the Tablighi Jamaat and came to Pune on March 11. They were not part of the Nizamuddin congregation. They tested negative for Covid-19 on March 24,” police said.
“The eight men came to India legally and were supposed to stay in different rooms in a mosque. However, all of them were found living at one place in the mosque and also visited eight mosques and other places in the city,” joint commissioner of police Ravindra Shisve told TOI.
Police said the arrested men did not follow social distancing norms and visited mosques at Khadki, Hadapsar, Kondhwa, Mominpura and Ghorpadi, among other places. “We received information about a group of eight foreigners staying together in a mosque. Our police teams searched different mosques in the city and found them in Nana Peth,” said Shisve.
A team comprising personnel from the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) and the Samarth police station rushed to the mosque and arrested them. Later, a case was filed with the Samarth police under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and also the Foreigners Act.
After the FIR was registered, they were again taken to the PMC-run Naidu Hospital for a medical test. Police said that these men will be shifted to an institutional quarantine facility and will not be allowed to leave until further notice.