A mob of around 20 people allegedly killed a man and injured three others in Assam’s Biswanath district suspecting that the men had stolen cows, the Hindustan Times reported on Thursday. The incident took place at Diplunga tea estate on Wednesday morning.

An unidentified police official of Sootea station said the four men were travelling in a van when they were attacked by the mob around 4 am. “Locals alleged that the victims had stolen cows,” the police official said.

Police said the mob attacked Deben Rajbongshi, Phoolchand Sahu, Bijoy Nayak and Pujen Rajbongshi, all belonging to the tea-tribe community. Deben died of his injuries at a hospital, while the three other men are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Biswanath Chariali town, reported The New Indian Express.

“They were travelling in a van with two stolen cows,” police inspector Manoj Baruah said. “There were five people but one managed to escape. We have registered a case and we are looking for the assailants.” A case of cow theft has also been registered.

One of the men injured in the attack told local news channels that they were on their way to buy pigs “when a mob armed with sticks, iron rods stopped us and started attacking, accusing us of being cow thieves”.

“We have launched an operation against those responsible for the attack on the victims,” said Biswanath Superintendent of Police Diganta Kumar Chowdhury, adding that no arrests have yet been made.

Wednesday’s lynching incident comes just two months after a mob in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district beat to death two young men from Guwahati who they suspected to be child abductors. Police have arrested 31 people in connection with the case.