Twenty-nine people, including four Bruneians, who had attended a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month, were arrested on April 18 for preaching while visiting on tourist visa and violating prohibitory orders.

They had been quarantined until April 17, the Hindustan Times reported.

Twenty-six people from eight countries were remanded to police custody till April 24 by a local court in Ahmednagar on Saturday.

Eight are from Ivory Coast; three from Tanzania; four each from Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Djibouti; and one each from Iran, Benin and Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Indian nationals were remanded to judicial custody before being released on bail.

They were among the 35 people who had attended a two-day Tablighi Jamaat congregation at its headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. Cases were registered against them at various police stations in Ahmednagar.

“These 29 people were found along with six others who tested positive for COVID-19, while these 29 had tested negative 15 days ago,” said police inspector Dilip Pawar.

“While the positive cases are being treated, the others were in institutional quarantine until Friday (April 17) and arrested on Saturday (April 18). The court remanded the foreign nationals to police custody and granted bail to three Indian nationals who had tested negative.”

Of the 35 people who were booked, three tested positive, with one each from Indonesia, Djibouti and Ivory Coast.

The remaining 29 were sent to institutional quarantine.

Out of that group of 35, 14 were found at Kazi Masjid in Jamkhed, 10 in Bhaldar Markaz Masjid in Nevasa, and 11 in Mehraj Masjid in Ahmednagar.

Cases against them were registered on April 5 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Maharashtra Police Act, Maharahstra COVID-19 Regulation, Epidemic Diseases Act, the National Disaster Management Act and the Foreign National Act.