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Police conducted searches at mosques located in Qaiserbagh, Madioan and Kakori areas of the city on the basis of information provided by the intelligence unit of the Lucknow police. Police found that all 23 foreign nationals had come to India on valid documents. The district administration got their medical examination done and later put them in quarantine.

Among 23 persons, 17 are from Bangladesh and six others are from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In Kakori’s Palia area, police found 10 Bangladeshi nationals staying at a mosque, while in a mosque in Madioan area, the police found seven Bangladeshis. The police said they were staying there since March 19. They were not showing symptoms of coronavirus but have been put in quarantine in hospital as a precautionary measure, police added. Police are trying to verify whether they had attended a congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin earlier this month.

“They were carrying valid documents with them,” said DCP, North, Sarvashresth Tripathi.

Explained | Tablighi Jamaat: its purpose, how it runs

A police team, along with a team of district administration officials, conducted search at mosque in Qaiserbagh area and and found six persons from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan staying there. “After medical examination, they were sent to be kept in quarantine,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police, Qaiserbagh, I P Singh.

Meanwhile, five members of a mosque in Bijnor have been booked for allegedly sheltering eight Indonesian nationals who had earlier participated in the Nizamuddin congregation. According to the police, the Islamic preachers had first travelled to Odisha from New Delhi, following which they came to Bijnor.

“We sent out information to all police stations to begin investigating the presence of any such person who might have participated in the markaz and had returned to the region. It was found that eight Indonesian preachers had been hiding in a mosque. The information has been passed on to the health Department and necessary quarantine measures are being taken. The person allegedly giving them shelter have been booked,” said Bijnor Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Tyagi.

Bijnor police are also acquiring details of their travel to Odisha to trace the chain of contacts. The health department is screening local residents in the vicinity of the mosque as well to determine any possible cases. The FIR was registered under section 188 (disobeying government orders), 269 (spreading of disease) and 270(actions leading to spreading of disease) of the IPC.

In Muzaffarnagar, 24 persons had been identified as participants of the markaz and all of them are currently in Delhi. The SSP appealed to all residents to come forward with any information about participants.

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In Meerut, eight local residents had participated in the Markaz and while seven remained in Delhi, one of them returned to Sardhana area, According to a medical official, the man has been put under home quarantine for the next 14 days and the immediate contacts were being traced.

In Saharanpur, seven of nine people who participated in the Delhi event are currently in Delhi. “In the list we were given, seven have not come back to the district while two others do not belong to the district. We have also found 449 such people out of which most would have attended the Delhi event. But they have been in the district for more than 14 days and have shown no symptoms. The medical team is keeping a strict vigil,” said Vineet Bhatnagar, SP, City, Saharanpur.

According to Ghaziabad officials, 10 of the names mentioned in the list were found in Masuri area and have been sent to government quarantine.

In Bhadohi, 14 people, including 11 Bangladeshi nationals, who had attended the religious congregation were admitted to the isolation ward of a hospital here, PTI reported quoting police.

Superintendent of Police, Ram Badan Singh said preliminarily no symptom of COVID-19 was found in them, but as a precautionary measure they have been kept in isolation ward and their samples were sent for testing.

“The 11 Bangladeshi nationals started from Dhaka on February 27 and reached Delhi’s Hazrat Nizammudin Markaj. From there, 14 persons arrived in Bhadohi and were staying at a guest house of markaj since March 4. In the past 25 days, these persons met many people,” the SP said.

“They also held religious gatherings at a mosque in Kajipur which were attended by hundreds of people,” he said, adding the employees of the guesthouse and those who came in contact with these people were being identified.

-WITH PTI

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