Even though the Azad Maidan police have registered an FIR against 150 people, who allegedly attended Tablighi Jamaat conclave in Nizamuddin last month, identifying them will be an uphill task since only 10 names have been mentioned in the complaint.
On Tuesday night, State Minister Anil Deshmukh tweeted, “50-60 participants @ the #TablighMarkaz at Nizamuddin, Delhi are trying to hide with phones switched off. They shd report to nearest police, get tested & quarantined @ the earliest. Failure to do so will invite strictest police action. #WarOnCorona #NoConpromiseOnSafetyEver.”
On April 2, the police, based on a complaint from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, charged the 150 with disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant and negligent conduct likely to spread infection of a disease dangerous to life under the Indian Penal Code.
“We have named 10 people in the FIR, whose attendance at the Markaz event we have confirmed so far, along with 140 other suspects. The total number of suspects is based on the number of possible attendees we had ascertained, which was in turn based on inputs shared with us by the Centre,” an officer with the Mumbai Police said.
The Hindu had on April 2 reported how the police were using a cumbersome method called dump data analysis to identify and apprehend the attendees.
Investigating officers said the attendance of a large number of the suspects remained to be confirmed, and several of them were untraceable, with their phones switched off. “In the case of several of them, we are still ascertaining whether they are actually based in Mumbai or passed through the city before proceeding to another location. We are coordinating with the police in other cities and States to confirm this. Inquiries are also being made at a variety of levels, including police station staff across the city and special branch officers,” another officer said.
On Sunday, the Mumbai Police also tweeted asking all attendees to come forward and identify themselves.
Officers said the main offence was two-fold: that the suspects attended the event despite advisories by the State government cautioning people against travelling to other States and that they did not inform the authorities once cases of the disease started getting confirmed among the attendees, putting others around them at risk.
The gathering at Alami Markaz Banglewali Mosque in March is being said to be among the biggest wellsprings of the novel coronavirus. The police in various States are trying to trace the attendees so that they can be screened for infection.