Maha books 156 foreigners sneaking in for Tablighi Jamaat event

Cracking down further, the Maharashtra government has booked 156 foreigners from 18 countries for violating their visa rules and attending the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi last month, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said here on Sunday.

Mumbai, April 12 Cracking down further, the Maharashtra government has booked 156 foreigners from 18 countries for violating their visa rules and attending the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi last month, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said here on Sunday.

"The police have booked 156 foreigners for visa rules violations under the Foreigners Act's Section 14B and relevant IPC sections, and further investigations are on," he said, in a statement.

The minister said that all these foreigners had been granted a tourist visa for India, but they flouted the norms by visiting the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month.

The 18 countries from which they came are: Indonesia 37, Kyrgyzstan 19, Myanmar 18, Bangladesh 13, Tanzania 11, Philippines 10, Kazakhstan and Ivory Coast 9 each, Malaysia 8, Togo 6, Djibouti 5, Brunei 4, Russia 2, US, Benin, Iran, Ghana and South Africa 1 each.

A total of 15 offences have been registered by police in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Amravati, Nanded, Nagpur, Pune, Ahmednagar, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, and all the foreigners are currently kept in institutional quarantine, Deshmukh added.

The recent spurt in India's coronavirus cases and casualties is attributed to the Tablighi Jamaat event in New Delhi, while a bigger 2-day event planned for March 14-15 in Palghar was cancelled by the Maharashtra government.

( With inputs from IANS )