Missing from the radar, Maulana Saad communicates with Jamaatis via audio messages

New Delhi, April 9 (IANS) Under self-quarantine after being blamed for grossly violating the norms of the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Amir (chief) of Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Saad, continues to communicate with Jamaatis through audio messages.
The Maulana’s immediate family members are ostensibly running the daily affairs of the Jamaat from his close associate’s bungalow in Zakir Nagar in South East Delhi.
Highly-placed sources said that on the instructions of Maulana Saad, a seven-minute audio message of the Amir was uploaded on YouTube and other social media platforms on the eve of Shab-e-Baraat on Thursday evening.
In the message, which has been cleverly extracted from the Maulana’s speech of April 2019, captioned ‘Shab-e-Baraat Tayohar Nahi’, Maulana Saad has requested all practicing Muslims to stay indoors and not venture outside to perform any ritual on the night of Shab-e-Baraat.
Earlier on the suggestions of Maulana Saad, his close aide in Bhopal, Iqbal Hafiz, had appealed to Jamaatis to go for Covid-19 test in case they had attended the Delhi Markaz of Jamaat in the Nizamuddin area last month.
In his 4.30-minute audio message, Jamaat’s key member Iqbal Hafeez revealed that on instructions of Maulana Saad, he was requesting all the members (of Jamaat) that they should come out of their homes and volunteer to get tested for Covid-19. Besides YouTube, the audio messages are also being uploaded on the site delhimarkaz.com.
On Wednesday, another important audio message was uploaded on social media wherein Maulana Saad says, “koi aadmi ke jhootha hone ke liye itna kafi hai ki uske baare me kahi suni baaten aage bada dein” (to paint someone as a liar, it’s enough that one spreads false rumours against him).
With the help of this audio message, Maulana Saad, who himself is in the eye of storm over the Tablighi Jamaat’s defiance of the lockdown measures, tries to play the victim card in a bid to convince Jamaat members that rumours were being spread against him.
Sources said that Jamaat has followers around the globe, and such audio messages have always been an important tool to communicate with millions of Jamaatis.
Meanwhile, speaking to IANS, a senior IPS officer of the Delhi Police said that strict action is being taken against the Jamaatis who have been hiding at various places in the national capital and neighbouring states to evade tests for Covid-19.
However, the officer refused to comment on Maulana’s Saad whereabouts.
As per the close relatives, Maulana Saad is self-quarantined at a place known to the authorities. Sources said it is yet to be decided whether Maulana Saad will continue to stay at an undisclosed location or be quarantined at a government facility.
“We know his exact location. At an appropriate time, he would be interrogated by us,” a Delhi Police source added.
As of now, the Crime Branch handling the entire investigation related to the Nizamuddin Markaz is coordinating with intelligence agencies to locate the Jamaatis, who have either gone underground or have switched off their phones.

- Advertisement -