Two sanitation workers were allegedly attacked with an axe in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, after which their colleagues decided to stop work in the area, PTI reported on Saturday. The attacker reportedly told police that he hit them because a cleric had accused government workers of hounding “namazees and Tablighi Jamaat followers” since a lockdown was imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The attacker, Aadil Khan, was arrested along with his father Habib and the cleric Gop Khan on Friday. Aadil Khan is a resident of Koyla Mohalla in Khategaon town, and attacked the labourers when they were cleaning the locality. Aadil’s brother Arif was nabbed on Saturday, Additional Superintendent of Police Neeraj Chourasia said.

One of the workers sustained severe injuries and was admitted to a hospital. Chourasia told reporters that he would go to Khategaon to hold talks with some sanitation workers who had stopped work in the locality after the incident.

The Tablighi Jamaat group had held an event in Delhi in March, which was attended by tens of thousands of followers. Later, hundreds of these attendees and their contacts tested positive for Covid-19. On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money laundering case against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhlawi, trusts linked to the Jamaat and others.