Fifty five-year-old Pehlu Khan, a resident of Haryana, succumbed to his injuries on Monday night, two days after he was attacked by a group of gau rakshaks for transporting cows in Alwar, Rajasthan. Khan and at least four others were assaulted on Saturday even though they produced documents to show they had legally purchased the cows. So far, no arrests have been made.

One of the victims, 22-year-old Azmat, told the Indian Express that the incident occurred when the group was returning from a fair in Jaipur, where he had purchased two milch cows for Rs 75,000. The pick-up truck they were travelling in was stopped by gau rakshaks around 6 pm in the evening. “I told them I had all the documents but they pulled us out of the vehicle and beat us up,” Azmat told IE. “They took away Rs 35,000 from me. I later lost consciousness and woke up in a hospital at around 1 am on Sunday,” he said. Before he died, Pehlu Khan reportedly told his relatives that after being assaulted, gau rakshaks told him to run, saying “tu buddha aadmi hai, bhaag (you’re an old man, run away)” but he was chased and beaten up again.

Ramesh Chand Sinsinwar, station house officer (SHO) at Behror police station said a First Information Report (FIR) had been filed against the gau rakshaks – who he stated were affiliated to Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal – under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 308 (culpable homicide) and section 302 (murder). However, the victims have also been booked under the Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter & Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995, Sinsinwar said.