5 years after COVID ‘super spreader’ FIR, probe finds ‘nothing objectionable’ in Markaz head’s speeches: Report

More than five years after Maulana Mohd Saad Kandhalvi was booked for organising a Tablighi Jamat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in the national capital and being a ‘super spreader’ of COVID-19, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has found his speeches to be ‘unobjectionable’. The investigation officer from the Crime Branch of Delhi Police has informed seniors that “nothing objectionable” was found in the speeches of Saad recovered from his laptop, said an Indian Express report.

An FIR was filed against Maulana Saad and others on 31 March, 2020, for culpable homicide. The complaint filed by the SHO of Hazrat Nizamuddin Police Station alleged that in a WhatsApp audio recording circulated on 21 March 2020, Saad had urged his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing.

“A laptop and some electronic equipment were deposited in the FSL (forensic science laboratory) to extract data, and that is still awaited. Speeches of Saad were stored in the laptop, which were analysed earlier during the investigation, and nothing objectionable was found in them,” a senior officer told The Indian Express, citing the probe report.

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‘Maulana Saad has not joined probe yet’

The senior officers at the Delhi Police headquarters were also informed that Saad has not joined the investigation so far. The Tablighi Jamaat, an international Islamic religious group, was accused of spreading Covid by organising an international congregation in Delhi, at the Nizamuddin Markaz on 13-15 March, 2020.

Tablighi Jamaat is a global Sunni Islamic missionary movement whose members travel across the globe to ‘spread faith.’ The name literally means “Society for Spreading Faith”.

Delhi HC quashed 16 FIRs

The Delhi High Court has already quashed 16 FIRs against 70 Tablighi Jamaat members, ruling that merely residing in a markaz did not violate government-issued prohibitory orders during the early days of the pandemic.

The Nizamuddin Markaz Mosque, also called Banglewali Masjid, is the main centre of Tablighi Jamaat in the national capital and is just a few blocks away from the Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah.

As many as 952 foreign nationals, from 36 countries, were charge-sheeted in the case. At least 44 accused foreign nationals opted to face trial, while 908 pleaded guilty and paid fines ranging from ₹4,000 to ₹10,000.