NEW DELHI: A man who had returned to his village in

in northwest Delhi after attending a

conference in

was allegedly thrashed earlier this week after some people accused him of spreading COVID-19, police said.

Three people have been arrested for allegedly beating the 22-year-old, who is recovering from his injuries in a hospital, police officials said. It was earlier erroneously reported that he had died after being thrashed.

Mehboob Ali, a resident of Harewali village in Bawana, had gone to Bhopal for a Tablighi Jamaat conference, officials said. He was there for 45 days and returned to the national capital in a truck carrying vegetables. He got off at the Azadpur vegetable market on Sunday where a medical examination was conducted to check for symptoms of COVID-19.

He left for his village after that. When he reached there, rumour spread that he had plans to spread COVID-19. He was thrashed in the fields and later rushed to a hospital, a senior police official said. The official added that Ali's condition is stable. The Tablighi Jamaat's

markaz has become a hotspot for

not only in the national capital but also across the country.