2 Tablighi Jamaat members, 3 close contacts positive; Maharashtra looks for others who took part

In Maharashtra till now, several incidents have been reported — including two in Ahmednagar district, one in Chandrapur and one in Navi Mumbai — when foreign nationals suspected to be associated with the religious group came to the state from Delhi, and were found to be residing in local mosques.

Two foreign nationals – one from Ivory Coast and the other an NRI from France — had tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday at Ahmednagar, District Collector Rahul Dwivedi told The Indian Express. On Tuesday, three more persons, who are close contacts of the duo but are residents of Jamkhed tehsil in Ahmednagar district, tested positive, said District Civil Surgeon Dr Pradeep Murambikar.

“The foreign duo, members of a Muslim Jamaat who are into Islamic preaching and education, had come to India with another group of nine persons on January 4 via Mauritius. From Delhi, they had travelled to Chennai and back, then again to Mumbai and back to Delhi. They were later joined by two others from the same Jamaat, one from Tamil Nadu and one from Mumbai on March 13,” said Dwivedi.

The group came to Ahmednagar on March 16, he said.

“The group (in the age group of 30-50 years) left Delhi on March 14, travelled in two different trains and reached Ahmednagar city on March 16 where they stayed at the Markat Masjid for a day before heading for Jamkhed tehsil (in Ahmednagar district). The group of 14 people included three from East Africa, six from Ivory Coast (West Africa), an NRI from France and one from Iran. Three others who joined them in Delhi were two persons from Tamil Nadu and one from Mumbai,” added the district collector

So far, eight persons have been found to be positive with COVID-19 in Ahmednagar, of which one has recovered and been discharged. Of the remaining seven, two are foreign nationals from the group and three are from Jamkhed who were their close contacts..

So far, the administration has traced 68 contacts of the Tablighi Jamaat.

Ahmednagar Police got to know about the group on March 25, when they received information that some people were offering namaz at the Kazi Masjid at Jamkhed. A team reached the spot and found that 14 persons had gathered at the mosque despite the lockdown orders.

Police have lodged an offence against three trustees of Kazi Masjid under Section 188 and other sections of the Indian Penal Code for violation of government orders.

Sagar Patil, additional superintendent of police, Ahmednagar, confirmed that those who have tested positive and other foreign nationals had visited the Tablighi Jamaat’s religious event in Delhi before coming to Ahmednagar. Police said they came on tourist visas and are suspected to have taken part in religious activity in Ahmednagar. Probe is on to know whether they have violated their visa norms.

On March 30, a similar offence was lodged against two trustees of a Masjid in Nevasa town in Ahmednagar district. Police said 10 foreign nationals hailing from Djibouti, Ghana, Benin and other countries were found residing at the spot.

Police Inspector Ranjit Dere of Nevasa police station said all foreign nationals found at the spot were sent to a hospital in Ahmednagar for medical tests. The local residents they came in contact with are also being checked by doctors.

Inspector Dere said the foreign nationals came from Ahmednagar from Delhi on March 8 and have tourist visas. Police suspect they too are linked to Tablighi Jamaat and were involved in religious work. It is not known yet whether they participated in the Jamaat’s religious event in Delhi.

“We are aggressively tracing their contacts. There were approximately 10 other foreign nationals at Newasa tehsil who are presently in home quarantine. We are now trying to check their close contacts as well,” said District Collector Rahul Dwivedi.

In another case, as many as 11 foreigners from Turkey were found at a mosque in Tukum area of Chandrapur on March 25.

“There were 14 religious persons, including 11 from Turkey and three Indians from Tamil Nadu, Assam and Delhi. They came to Chandrapur from Delhi on March 3 and were residing here since then. They had tourist visas… all of them were taken for medical tests,” said Inspector Prakash Hake of Ramnagar police station.

Police suspect these 11 foreigners are also linked to Tablighi Jamaat, but they are not known to have participated in the Jamaat’s religious programme in Delhi in the first week of March.

Police sources said the Jamaat has active centres in Maharashtra, with its network spread across Pune, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and other cities.

The Filipino national who had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 13 in Navi Mumbai, and died 10 days later of kidney failure, had visited the Tablighi Jamat Markaz in Delhi in the first week of March.

The 68-year-old man had stayed at a mosque in Vashi. Three days after he and two other Filipinos in their group of eight tested positive and were admitted to hospital in Mumbai, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s health department notified the Maharashtra state government, the National Centre for Disease Control, and the Maharashtra Police on March 16 about the cases, and the travel history of the three patients, including that they had travelled by train from Delhi to Mumbai.

A Pune City Police officer said that those who are in Pune after attending the congregation have been identified and traced. The process of their institutional quarantine is on.

Police and district officials say that they do not have an exact count of Tablighis from Maharashtra who might have visited the Nizamuddin centre in March but are reaching out to community leaders to ensure voluntary disclosure of the information.

However, two Maharashtra Tablighi members who had traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia earlier this month for large TJ congregations – the one in Indonesia was cancelled – have tested positive. While one of them is in a quarantine facility of a private hospital, another is at Kasturba Hospital. Another person, who had also traveled as part of a jamaat, has tested negative.

“We do not have a precise number of people who went to the Delhi Markaz during the specified time. I am using my network to tell all those who have gone there to voluntarily come forward and get themselves tested. We are looking into this issue seriously and hope to trace all those who went there,” said state Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik.

A senior officer with Maharashtra Police said, “The places where the religious congregations and related activities were held are known. The names of people who attended these activities have been sent to us by the central authorities. We at the state level have asked individual police jurisdictions to check on people from their areas… who are on that list, who had gone for these gatherings or related activities. We are also gathering information about the mode of transport used by these persons. Police teams from city or district police are checking on these persons and their primary contacts with the help of local health and revenue officials. They are being asked if they have developed any symptoms. There is a possibility that some people have gone to these activities but are not on the lists received from central authorities. Efforts are on to check them too.”

—-with inputs from ENS Mumbai