Police in the northeastern state of Assam said they had registered a murder case over the deaths of Abu Hanifa and Riyazuddin Ali who were beaten with sticks on Sunday. Two suspects have been detained for questioning after the parents of one of the youths had lodged a complaint
About 20 people attacked the two Muslim youths, both in their 20s, beating them with sticks.
“They were chased and beaten with sticks by villagers who said the two boys were trying to steal cows from their grazing field,” Debaraj Upadhyay, Nagaon’s top cop, told AFP by telephone. “By the time we took them to the hospital at night they had succumbed to their injuries,” he added.
Some television pictures showed the two victims with their hands tied.
At least 12 Muslim men have been killed in similar incidents across the country by hardline Hindu mobs on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows in the past two years.
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