COVID-19: 10 Indonesians, 5 Indian booked in Telangana's Karimnagar for breaking rules

The Telangana police have booked the 10 Indonesian religious preachers and the group’s five Indian facilitators, including three Karimnagar locals, for violation of visa rules, cheating and disobedience of official orders aiding in COVID-19 spread in the state.

According to the FIR, a copy with DH, the 10 Indonesians arrived in India on tourist visas on March 9 and attended the 'Markaz' at Nizamuddin. They then arrived in Karimnagar on 14 March travelling in the AP Sampark Kranti Express from New Delhi.

As of Tuesday night, Telangana has reported 404 COVID-19 cases, 18 of them from Karimnagar including the Indonesians.

The FIR was registered on Sunday, under IPC sections 420, 269, 270, 188 and Foreigners Act 1946, Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act 2005, based on the complaint of Indrasena Reddy, special branch inspector, Karimnagar police.

All 10 Indonesians, detected in the Telangana town on March 16, had tested positive and have now recovered, after undergoing treatment at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.

Five Karimnagar locals, including the two who moved closely with the group arranging their transport, accommodation etc., were also found with positive symptoms, police said.

The Indonesian cases jolted the official machinery which swung into action with lockdown, sanitization, and testing of thousands of people in Karimnagar town particularly the area around the Ahmediya Masjid where the group stayed for two days.

In the FIR, Tabligh Jamaat is stated as a religious organization that contradicted the Visa rules and violated the worldwide advisories to contain Coronavirus spread.

According to the complaint, A1 to A10 Indonesians who came to India on tourist visas violated the Foreigners Act and neglecting central, state government’s Coronavirus rules and disease severity, have spread it in various places of Karimnagar town with the support of A-11 to A-15 and others.

“We have registered the case and taken up investigation,” Vijaya Kumar, inspector, Karimnagar I town told DH, refusing to reveal any further.