Rajya Sabha member and Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Friday slammed Tablighi Jamaat and said that Maulana Saad (leader of Tablighi Jamaat) should have taken measures before causing the damage.
Sanjay Singh told news agency ANI, "The leaders of Tablighi Jamaat should have taken measures before causing the damage, had he (Maulana Saad) given a message in his community, this could have been avoided."
The Nizamudddin centre, attended by thousands, turned out to be a hotspot for spread of coronavirus not only in the national capital, but the entire country. More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a "mega operation" to identify them.
On Saturday, while speaking at a press conference, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 4,291 or about 30% of Coronavirus cases in the country have been traced to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi out of 14,378 cases in the country. In Delhi, 63% of the reported 1,707 cases are linked to the same gathering.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry, said that 4,291 Coronavirus cases are epidemiologically linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz case. These cases are spread across 23 states and Union Territories, which include most of the high degree burden cases. He added that 84% of cases in Tamil Nadu, 63% cases in Delhi, 79% cases in Telangana, 59% cases in Uttar Pradesh and 61% cases in Andhra Pradesh are related to the event.
In the meanwhile, Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has written to the Delhi Police Crime Branch saying he is willing to cooperate in the investigation against him and that he has already joined the probe by replying to two notices served to him.
In a letter written on April 19, Kandhalvi asked the probe agency to inform him if a new section has been added to the FIR against him and to provide him a copy of the same.
The Delhi Police's crime branch had on March 31 lodged an FIR against seven persons, including the cleric, on a complaint by Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station for holding a congregation of Tablighi Jamaat followers in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also filed a money laundering case against Kandhalvi, trusts linked to the Jamaat and others.
