The Thane Crime Branch on Thursday arrested 25 people who had allegedly attended the Tablighi Jamaat’s gathering in Delhi earlier this year.
The event, which was held at Alami Markaz Banglewali Mosque in March, soon found itself in the centre of controversy after scores of the attendees started testing positive for the novel coronavirus. The police in several States registered cases against participants.
According to the police, 25 of the attendees were traced to Mumbra and booked on April 1. “The accused included 13 Bangladeshi nationals, eight Malaysians and four local residents. As they had all exposed themselves to the infection, they were quarantined in a government facility at Shil Daighar,” a Crime Branch officer said.
The officer said the quarantine period ended on Thursday, after which the Crime Branch Unit I arrested them. “The accused have been charged with disobeying an order promulgated by a public servant and negligent act with respect to an infectious disease under the Indian Penal Code, along with sections of the the Disaster Management Act. Additionally, the foreign nationals have been charged under the Foreigners’ Act for violating the terms of their tourist visas,” the officer said.
All of them were produced before the Thane court and were remanded in judicial custody. They subsequently applied for bail and were granted the same.