NEW DELHI (REUTERS): India has brought charges of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, against the chief of country’s Tableeghi Jamaat for holding a gathering last month that led to a big jump in coronavirus cases, police said.
According to a spokesperson, the Delhi police initially filed a case against the chief of country’s Tableeghi Jamaat – Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi – for violating the ban on the public gathering but had now invoked the law against culpable homicide.
The spokesperson also said that earlier police had filed an FIR against the Tableeghi chief, now Section 304 has been added, which carries a maximum punishment of a 10-year prison term.
The development comes after Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi completed the quarantine period. The chief was last seen on March 28 and later claimed through an audio message that he was in self-isolation.
Authorities have sealed the headquarters of the Tableeghi Jamaat group Delhi and the followers, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine.
According to the Indian health ministry, 1,080 of its 1,561 infections were linked to the group’s gathering. So far, coronavirus has claimed lives of more than 400 people and has affected more than 12,000 people across India.
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