GUWAHATI, April 15 - �Homeless Muslims� are fleeing from Assam to the neighbouring states, prompting an alert in three northeastern states. The Assam Police too is learnt to have stepped up vigil on the inter-state borders.
According to an intelligence input with security agencies, these �homeless Muslims� also include those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz and they are fleeing Assam to escape the �heightened scrutiny by Assam authorities�.
A WT message sent by the Nagaland Police alerted police stations in the neighbouring states, saying �Homeless Muslims of Assam are fleeing towards the bordering states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland on foot due to the coronavirus outbreak.�
They are reportedly moving towards these states in small groups to take shelter and for manual works. Some of them might have already entered Dimapur, while a large number is still waiting for opportunity to enter the town through Dellai, Borlengri, Notun Basti, Burma Camp Dairy Farm, Khatkhati, etc., the message read.
It is believed these groups of people also comprise members of the Tablighi Jamaat who attended the congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz. Despite a massive drive by the Assam government to trace such persons, many are reportedly still hiding. Sources in the Assam Police said scrutiny of trucks crossing the inter-state borders have been also stepped up.
Police on Tuesday evening arrested altogether five persons who managed to travel from outside the State amid the lockdown on March 24 and hide themselves in a house in Guwahati. Identified as Yakub Ali, Mamud Ali, Anowar Ali, Abul Hussain and Monowar Ali, the labourers working in Bengaluru and New Delhi hail from Tripura and were apprehended from a house at Hedayatpur.
A day before, four mosque leaders, who sheltered at least twelve Tablighi Jamaatis, were arrested from Kamrup�s Boko and Chayygaon areas. The Jamaatis, hailing from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, have been sent to a quarantine camp.
�There was a government instruction that if there were any such persons in any place, the information should be shared with the local police station or administration. But the masjid committee suppressed the information,� police said.
Along with the residents of Assam who had attended the Nizamuddin congregation, groups of Tablighi Jamaat preachers are also reported to have to come to Assam last month.
Thirty one COVID-19 positive cases in the State have been linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz of Delhi.
