HP Jamaat head, 17 members booked for hiding travel info

Tribune News Service

Shimla/Solan, April 4

The police today registered a case against Hukamdeen, head of the Tablighi Jamaat in Himachal, for concealing information of a person who had attended the Nizamuddin congregation in Delhi.

Besides, 17 of Jamaat were also booked taking the count to 41 in the state. So far 257 members of Tablighi Jamaat have been quarantined.

Sirmaur SP Ajay Krishan Sharma said a case under Sections 188, 269 and 270, IPC, and under the Natural Disaster Act had been registered against Hukamdeen, a Majra resident, for failing to disclose information about Irshad, who had attended the event.

He said though information about all such people was sought from him, he misled the police and said Irshad, a cloth seller, was at Saharanpur while investigation proved that he was in the district.

This attempt to mislead the police and the health staff could wreak havoc at this juncture when attempts were being made to contain the spread of the pandemic by identifying all such people and sending them to quarantine.

Meanwhile, the health staff conducted the medical examination of Irshad today. He has been sent to home quarantine though he did not show symptoms of Covid-19. The police are probing the details of Hukamdeen’s whereabouts in March and ascertaining how many people he had sent to Delhi to attend the congregation.

The police have arrested 446 persons for curfew violations, seized 228 vehicles and imposed a fine of Rs 18.5 lakh.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur sanctioned Rs 1 crore to the Police Department for the purchase of high-risk personal protective equipment kits and N-95 masks in the wake of pandemic Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Director, Higher Education, Amarjeet Sharma, directed the deputy directors and principals of government colleges to prepare lists of the volunteers of Bharat Scouts and Guides and NCC, who are willing to assist the district administrations and the police.

He warned private schools against charging fee till April 30. He said the notification was issued on March 27 but it had come to the notice that some private schools were still forcing parents to deposit fees even during the curfew.