Four people have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur for allegedly stabbing and killing a man who informed the police about a cow being sold for slaughter, The Indian Express reported.

Nanhe Ali, 52, died in hospital. His 22-year-old son Islam Ali and 20-year-old nephew Mukhtiyar Ali, who tried to help him, were injured in the assault.

The police said Ali was attacked on Sunday. Two weeks earlier, he had called Sub Inspector Sumit Kumar, who is in charge of the Dhamora Police Outpost. “The caller said one Ghasita was going to sell his cow through his neighbour Ali Ahmed,” Kumar told The Indian Express. “The cow was going to be slaughtered and its meat served at a wedding, the caller told me.”

Kumar said both Ghasita and Ali Ahmed denied the allegations, but they knew that Nanhe Ali had made the call.

On Saturday, Ali Ahmed and a few others allegedly caught Nanhe Ali in the market and beat him up. Ali Ahmed was arrested after Nanhe Ali filed a complaint. On Sunday, when Nanhe Ali was on his way home from the local mosque, Ali Ahmed’s brother Mohammed Umar and a few others allegedly stopped him and began to argue about Ahmed’s arrest. Nanhe Ali’s nephew Sameer said this is when Umar stabbed him.

The police said they stepped up security in the village to prevent clashes, Deccan Herald reported.

On Friday, cow vigilantes allegedly shot dead a 35-year-old Muslim man transporting cows and critically injured his fellow passenger in Rajasthan’s Alwar.