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Disturbing news has come from Delhi’s Nizamuddin West area close of Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

About 2000 followers of Alimi Markaz Masjid held an unauthorized religious meeting between March 13th and March 15th, barley 100 meters away from Dargah of sufi saint Hazart Nizamuddin.

The trouble started after many in the religious meeting fell ill. They did not informed authorities about the illnesses and began going out of Delhi area apparently moving under the radar of Health Ministry officials who were monitoring COVID19 cases.

WHO and Health Ministry officials are a worried lot now.

The situation became aggravated after many followers of Markez who had fallen ill and were running high fever carrying COVID19 virus traveled all over India preaching Islamic studies while allegedly spreading CoronaVirus.

Delhi Police officials said that this meeting at the Markaz Masjid was not authorised. Also organizers had not informed authorities about large number of foreign nationals in attendance at this meeting.

Late night on Monday, 30-March-2020 Delhi Police registered FIR against clerics for defying lockdown orders.

Authorities in Delhi swung into action only after when the news surfaced on Monday afternoon that one person from Markaz Masjiz area in Nizamuddin West area had died of COVID19 related illness.

It is believed that between March 13 and March 15 majority of attendees among 2000 Markez Masjid followers may have left Delhi to various parts of India allegedly carrying CoronaVirus symptoms.

Six people from Telangana who were part of this meeting died due to novel coronavirus, the state government Telangana said in an official statement issued around midnight on Monday.

The statement added, “Coronavirus has spread among some of those who attended a religious prayer meeting from March 13 to 15 at Markaz in Nizamuddin area in Delhi. Among those who attended were some persons from Telangana.”

Two of the six died at the Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad, one each in two private hospitals, and one each in Nizamabad and Gadwal towns, the statement said, without mentioning the time of their deaths.

It may be recalled that on Sunday 34 persons from the same Nizamuddin West area had been moved to hospitals.

News coming-in from Nizamuddin area late on Monday night suggested that Delhi Police cordoned off the entire area around the Markaz Masjid.

Drones were also deployed in the area to ensure strict implementation of lockdown orders, the police officer said.

The point of worry for authorities is that around 8,000 people allegedly from across the country as well as many from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia attended a gathering at Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat in the Nizamuddin West.

While many returned home, others stayed back at the mosque. The persons evacuated were staying in the Markaz, the police officer said.

Cases of COVID-19 have surfaced in several States in persons linked to the Nizamuddin gathering.

News also came-in from Port Blair that six persons, who had attended the Delhi meet, tested positive in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

They had returned to Port Blair via Kolkata on Tuesday, said a senior officer. A 65-year-old man, who died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Srinagar on Thursday, had also attended the Nizamuddin congregation and returned to Kashmir by train. In another case, a 52-year-old man tested positive after his return to Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Entry to the Markaz Masjid has been banned till further orders.