A man was assaulted by an angry mob for allegedly skinning a buffalo in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, ANI reported on Friday. The man was beaten up by local residents even as police officers tried to rescue him. The incident took place in Achal Tal on Thursday.

The police said they had received a complaint about a dairy owner, Kali Baghel, killing and skinning a buffalo in his house. “Received information that buffalo is being slaughtered at Kali Baghel’s home, arrested all those involved, controlled crowd on time,” said police officer Pankaj Shrivastava.

However, Baghel’s relatives denied the allegations, reported NDTV. According to them, the buffalo had died of natural causes, and the men were trying to skin the animal to recover losses by selling its hide. The police said they would investigate the case.

“How else do you treat such people,” said Vinay, one of the men who led the mob. “They have to be beaten up till the slaughter does not end completely,” NDTv reported him as saying.