The police in Rajasthan’s Alwar city arrested two suspects for allegedly killing a Muslim man transporting cows, ANI reported on Tuesday. On Monday, officers had said that “anti-social elements” were behind Ummar Khan’s murder last week.

“The attackers were basically anti-social elements who attacked Khan and two other passengers of the pickup truck as they were smuggling cows,” Superintendent of Alwar Police Rahul Prakash had said.

However, Khan’s neighbours in Ghatmika village of Bharatpur told The Indian Express that theirs was a village of dairy farmers. His wife Khurshidan said she had asked Khan to buy a cow so their children could have milk and ghee. “When he didn’t return by Friday morning, I started inquiring,” she told the newspaper. “Everyone kept telling me he would return soon, but he never did.”

On Sunday, the police had claimed that the victims had not been shot. But Tahir, Khan’s companion, contradicted this assertion. “Ummar and I bought five cows in Dausa, and along with Javed, we left for home on Thursday night,” he said. “Just before dawn on Friday, we were passing through a village in Govindgarh. Towards the end of the village, six-seven men who were hiding behind a house fired at us.”

Tahir said he managed escape with a bullet injury in his arm as the assailants shot Khan after he opened the door of the truck. He said the men hit Khan with the butt of their gun after he fell and left him for dead.