Lucknow, July 25: Four men were attacked by a mob in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras on allegation of smuggling buffalo. The victims, two Muslim and two Hindus, were apprehended with a dead bovine by the villagers which led to the assault.

The incident was reported in the wee hours of Wednesday. The victims, after being rescued by the police, said they were sent by their contractors for picking up a dead buffalo from Hathras village.

The locals, however, mistook them as buffalo smugglers and began beating them up. The four of them were assaulted and dragged for nearly 50 metres till the police intervened.

As per the videos doing rounds on social media, the mob kept thrashing the victims despite them pleading to be carcass lifters and not bovine smugglers. In one of the clips, a police official is seen pleading to an angry mob to stop the assault and let the law take its own course.

After being rescued by the police, they have been brought to a police station located 50-km away from Hathras. An inquiry is underway to ascertain whether they are animal smugglers or carcass lifters. Senior police officer Siddharth Verma, while speaking to NDTV, said action would also be taken against the violent mob.

The incident comes days after the lynching of 32-year-old Rakbar Khan in Alwar's Lalwandi village. The victim was intercepted with two cows on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The vigilantes, who accused him of being a cow-smuggler, assaulted him till the police arrived at the spot.

Rakbar, however, could not be saved as the police first arranged for the transportation of the two cows to the nearest shelter home, followed by a break they took for tea before taking him to the hospital. The delay turned fatal as Rakbar succumbed to the injuries enroute to the community healthcare centre.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2018 05:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).