The body of an imam who died of a stroke on his way to the mosque was left abandoned on the roadside as locals did not dare go near it from fear of contracting the coronavirus.
The incident took place in Bishwanath upazila of Sylhet on Thursday.
Doctors, however, later confirmed that the deceased, identified as Mizan Ahmed, 57, had suffered a stroke resulting from high blood pressure and identified it to be the cause of his death.
“Subsequently, his namaz-e-janaza was held here, before his body was sent to his hometown of Chandpur,” confirmed Bishwanath police station OC Shamim Musa.
Locals say the late Mizan Ahmed had been an imam at Gobindanagar Jame Mosque in Khajanchi union for 30 years.
On Thursday morning, local residents spotted his body beside the Kandigram-Railway Bridge road. When his body was taken to the upazila health complex he was pronounced dead.
The news of his sudden death initially spread panic among locals, who were later put at ease after learning that he had not died of coronavirus infection.