The police on Saturday said the accused who had assaulted two students from Jammu and Kashmir in Haryana had “mistakenly” attacked them.

Mahendragarh Superintendent of Police Kamaldeep told The Indian Express that the same day, the six accused had assaulted five Muslim men while they were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, and that they were their “original targets”.

The students – identified as 23-year-old Aftab Ahmad and 22-year-old Amjad Ali – are both from Rajouri in Jammu and are studying Geography at the Central University of Haryana. They alleged that the accused had followed them on two-wheelers as they were heading back to campus and beat them up after catching up.

The police on Saturday said they had registered two First Information Reports in the case – one for allegedly assaulting the two students and the other for allegedly assaulting the five Muslim labourers, who were from Uttar Pradesh.