Gujarat police hunt for Tablighi, registers case

Gandhinagar, April 6 (IANS) The Gujarat Police said on Monday that it was looking for a Tablighi Jamaat member suspected to be coronavirus positive but who had gone into hiding since the nationwide lockdown, even as four more Tablighi members were found positive during the day.

The Gujarat Police has identified 126 such missing Tablighi members in the last couple of days and hunt is still on for more suspected cases.

Shivanand Jha, Directorate General of Police (DGP), told the media: “We have found that one person believed to a Tablighi Jamaat follower is hiding in Ahmedabad. We have filed a case against him. The police will take stern action against all such persons who are hiding and have not come forward regarding their travel history, especially Tablighi members returning from the Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi.”

“We identified 126 such members till Sunday. We did not find a single Tablighi on Monday. Eight Tablighi members were found corona positive on Sunday, and four on Monday. All 12 are from Ahmedabad,” Jha said.

“We have also filed a police complaint against one person who had returned from Nizamuddin Markaz on charge of violating the lockdown provisions. After his quarantine period he came out and informed the police that he had returned to Gujarat on March 11. However, police investigation found that he had returned on March 27,” the DGP said.

“Police has been enforcing the lockdown very strictly in urban areas, but from now on we will do so in the rural areas of Gujarat as well. The police will also patrol the rural areas,” added Jha.

The DGP said that there should be no discrimination against positive patients who have since been cured, or persons coming out of quarantine or persons in the medical profession. “We won’t tolerate it and culprits will be strictly acted against,” Jha said.

He said a Surat resident was bnooked for misbehaving with his neighbour, a medical professional.

The police has filed 1,457 cases for violations of CrPC 144, 725 cases for violation of quarantine norms and 162 cases for other crimes. The Gujarat Police has arrested 3,918 persons and seized 18,430 vehicles till date.

“Using drones, we noticed violation of lockdown and registered 365 cases. We registered 55 cases on the basis of CCTV surveillance. For spreading fake messages, criticism of lockdown provisions, we have filed 12 cases. A total of 113 cases were filed and 198 persons arrested in the state,” the DGP said.

–IANS

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