Tablighi Jamaat members.
Tablighi Jamaat members. 
News Brief

Tablighi Jamaat Returnees Distributed Sweets On Their Way Back Home, Police Tracking Down Co-Travellers

BySwarajya Staff

As Uttar Pradesh seals 15 Covid-19 hotspots, a new challenge has emerged. The administration is now looking for those who travelled with Tablighi Jamaat members, and may have got infected while returning home.

The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered the sealing of 15 hotspots in different districts across the state. Under the drive, areas where the coronavirus caseload is six or above, will be sealed in order to further contain the spread of the virus and break the chain.

The state has seen a spike in cases of Covid-19 after the return of Tablighi Jamaat members from the congregation held in Delhi's Nizamuddin area last month.

Many of these Jamaatis departed from Delhi to their respective towns and cities in Uttar Pradesh in trains, roadways buses and private vehicles. Police in different parts of the state are mapping these men and their primary contacts.

However, a new matter has now come to light in the state.

This report points out that some members of the Tablighi Jamaat distributed sweets brought from Agra to co-travellers on their way back home.

Some of the Tablighi Jamaat members who were moving from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Meerut towards home, distributed ‘pettha’, a dessert synonymous with Agra, to co-travellers in buses.

Search is on for those who had travelled with the Jamaatis and accepted the sweets, as authorities fear that it could have passed on the infection.

Among the possible co-travellers of the Jamaatis, according to reports, could be businessmen and lawyers regularly travelling between Delhi and Bareilly, Badaun, Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur.

These people may also include those who travel to visit families and relatives in Bareilly, Aligarh, Bulandshahar, Hapur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad etc.

The report adds that there are chances that Jamaatis from Bareilly had visited Bulandshahar, Baraich and Shahjahanpur.

It also adds that a search is on for people from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Hapud and Meerut who are said to have consumed or accepted the sweets from the Jamaatis in the buses, and investigations on their whereabouts are on.