Five cow vigilantes have been arrested and two minors have been detained in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri for allegedly killing a man over suspicion that he had consumed beef.
The accused suspected that Sabir Malik, a labourer who had come to Haryana from Bihar, had consumed beef, and so they plotted to kill him, the police said.
The suspects called Malik and another labourer to a shop under the pretext of selling empty plastic bottles for scrap on August 27. There, the seven accused thrashed the two labourers.
A video of the beatings had gone viral on social media. While Malik died of injuries, the other worker is being treated in a hospital, the police said.
"Some people called police on August 27 over suspicion that beef was being cooked at a slum. The police came and took samples of the meat and sent them to a lab. However, later, the suspects took two of the labourers away and thrashed them," police officer Bharat Bhushan said.
He said the police will investigate the case and take action. The five arrested men are Abhishek, Mohit, Ravinder, Kamaljit and Sahil.
