Govt gets cracking on visa violators after Nizamuddin fiasco

New Delhi, Mar 31: The government has decided to blacklist all the foreigners who attended the Tabligi Jamaat event at Nizamuddin for violation of visa rules. Nearly 800 will be blacklisted, government sources have confirmed.

A strict lockdown has been imposed in parts of southeast Nizamuddin after 24 persons tested positive for COVID-19. These are also being linked to cases in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman Islands, Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir and also the five deaths in Telangana.

All these persons are said to have attended the congregation at the Nizamuddin Mosque in mid-March. Over 1,000 people continued to stay at the Markaz even as a 21 day nation-wide lockdown was announced. The organisation has been accused of gross negligence and said that it planned on lodging an FIR against the Maulana of the Mosque.

It was learnt that over 8,000 people had attended the event. Many had come from Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries. Many had violated visa rules and they would be blacklisted, the government source also said.