Maulana Saad Khandhlawi, the chief of Tablighi Jamaat, has urged the followers to cooperate with the government and follow the prescribed procedures to check the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19.

“We should follow the instructions given by the authorities, and listen to the doctors. For example, we should avoid gathering at places and provide support and help to the government in these times,” Khandhlawi said in an audio message posted on the group’s YouTube channel.

“We should not go against the law, it is against our principles,” he further said in the audio message.

The message from the Jamaat chief came amid the ongoing raids by the police in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Khandhlawi is believed to be hiding at an undisclosed location and had earlier released an audio clip in which he had said that he is under self-quarantine.

One of his lawyers too released a video message in which he said that this Covid-19 crisis should be taken seriously. “This is a serious thing. We should not indulge in any discussion on this, as to who is responsible for this disease. With folded hands, I urge all the countrymen to unite in fight against this disease,” said the lawyer Musharraf Ali Khan.

Some 9,000 people were exposed to the country’s biggest infection cluster at the gathering organised by the group at its global headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area last month. The number of Covid-19 positive cases jumped by more than half to 1,965 on Wednesday, fuelled by infections among people who either attended prayers and lectures at the Jamaat’s headquarters or came into contact with them later.

Khandhlawi claims to have over 100 crore followers in nearly 200 countries. The Nizamuddin markaz serves as the global headquarters of the Jamaat.

His family comes from Kandhla, a place near Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh, around 80 kilometres away from Delhi.