After remaining untraceable for two months, the preacher of Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad Khandalvi finally came out of his hideout to offer namaaz in Delhi’s Zakir Nagar. According to Delhi police, Maulana Saad sneaked out on Friday to offer prayers at the Abu Bakr mosque in Delhi’s Zakir Nagar.
Maulana Saad is booked under several charges for purportedly organizing religious congregation when the coronavirus cases were reported in different parts of the country. Despite repeated government orders, he flouted every safety norm risking the lives of thousands including foreigners.
Maulana Saad is yet to submit his COVID-19 report issued from a laboratory of a government hospital. The Crime branch is still awaiting the reports as Maulana has revealed that he is in self-quarantine and will be interrogated once his report is submitted.
Delhi Police Crime branch had sent a notice to Maulana Saad under Section 91 of CrPC in which he was asked to provide some documents while the response on the notice was ‘unsatisfactory’, the crime branch slapped a second notice to the religious preacher with 36 questions at his farmhouse in Shamli near Delhi.
Charges against Maulana Saad
The Chief of the orthodox religious sect has been on the radar of leading probe agencies after the religious congregation in March. On March 31, the Delhi police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Maulana Saad under the Epidemics Act 1897 for allowing religious congregation in the month of March, despite repeated warnings from the center and the state government. On Wednesday, the Tablighi Jamaat Chief was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On April 16, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case against the Maulana Saad and nine others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on predicate offense that was registered by Delhi police. The agency is investigating the trust and the transactions of the trust that belonged to the Tablighi Jamaat chief.