Nine persons have been arrested for allegedly lynching two Adivasi men on the suspicion of slaughtering a cow in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district, the police said on Wednesday, reported PTI.

Those who have been arrested have been identified as Sher Singh Rathore, Ajay Sahu, Vedant Chouhan, Deepak Avadhiya, Basant Raghuvanshi, Raghunandan Raghuvanshi, Anshul Chourasia, Shivraj Raghuvanshi and Rinku Pal, an official press release stated.

A case of murder and rioting has been filed against six of the accused men, Seoni Superintendent of Police Kumar Prateek said, according to The New Indian Express.

The incident took place between 2.30 am and 3 am on Monday in the Kurai police station limits of Seoni. A mob of 15 to 20 men allegedly lynched the two Adivasi men – Sampat Batti, a resident of the town of Sagar, and Dhansay Inwati, who belonging to Seoni’s Simaria village.

The district administration said that it has approved financial assistance of Rs 8.25 lakh has been approved for the relatives of those who were killed, PTI reported.

Sampat Batti’s daughter Sunita Batti has been given a job as a daily wage employee at an Adivasi girls’ hostel in the Barelipar village of the Seoni district. Inwati’s son Jaiprakash has also been given a job as a daily wage worker at a higher secondary school in the village of Vijaypani, according to a press release from the district administration.

Assailants belonged to Bajrang Dal, says complainant

The complainant, Brajesh Batti, who was also injured in the attack on Monday, alleged that the assailants belonged to the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal. Batti said the victims were beaten with sticks.

“It was alleged that a group of 15-20 people went to the victims’ house, accused them of killing a cow and assaulted them,” Additional Superintendent of Police SK Maravi said. “The two men died while being taken to hospital and the other sustained minor injuries.”

The police said that around 12 kilograms of meat was recovered from the victims’ home.

So far, 20 persons have been booked in the case. Police have formed three teams to nab the other accused persons, ANI reported.