Tablighi Jamaat FIR: Delhi Police Probe Indicates Audio Doctored

Maulana Saad and six others had been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

File image of Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi.

(Photo: IANS/Altered by The Quint)

Investigation by the Delhi Police Crime Branch into the FIR against Markaz Nizamuddin head Maulana Saad Kandhalvi indicates that the audio clip mentioned in the complaint maybe doctored and stitched together using several audio files, The Indian Express reported.

The FIR by the police had mentioned this audio clip, which was said to be Kandhalvi’s voice, where he is allegedly asking people to not follow social distancing norms and prohibitory orders.

The individual clips as well as the alleged doctored audio file have been sent to a forensic science laboratory for testing.

Delhi Police Questions Report, TIE Clarifies

Delhi Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mandeep S Randhawa called the report “factually incorrect” and said:

“The claims made by the reporter regarding the investigation are strongly rebutted. The news is not only factually incorrect but seems to be based on wholly unverified sources and purely conjectural imagination. The Delhi Police does not in any way stand by the story of the reporter,” reported The Indian Express.

However, in response, TIE said, “The report is based on conversations with sources and officials aware of the probe against Maulana Saad. Before publication, calls were made to Special CP (Crime) Praveer Ranjan Friday. Also, a message was sent to him seeking his comments on the key points made in the report. No response was received.”

Saad and six others associated with the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat, had been booked by the Delhi Police on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The allegation was that they went ahead with a gathering of around 2,000 people at the mosque in late March despite warning from authorities.

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint by the station house officer of Hazrat Nizamuddin police station Mukesh Walia. Walia had alleged how “an audio recording purportedly by Maulana Mohd Saad was found in circulation on WhatsApp on 21 March, in which the speaker was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing, and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz”.

The Indian Express reported how a team of policemen, led by Inspector Satish Kumar, has been trying to find the specific audio which went viral and was mentioned in the FIR. However, they have not recovered it. On the other hand, the investigators found that Saad’s comments on the police and religion from other events had been taken out of context and doctored.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)