The police in Assam have arrested 11 people accused of lynching a man and injuring three others in the state’s Biswanath district on Wednesday, NDTV reported. The accused, who suspected that the four men had stolen cattle, are from the adivasi community and work in the Diplunga tea estate, about 250 km from state capital Guwahati.

Biswanath Superintendent of Police Diganta Kumar Choudhury confirmed the news of the arrests, The Indian Express reported.

The four men – Deben Rajbongshi, Phoolchand Sahu, Bijoy Nayak and Pujen Rajbongshi – were travelling in a van “with two stolen cows”, when they were attacked, the police had said. 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”. The men were taken to a hostpial, where Deben Rajbongshi died of his injuries.

Unidentified police officials told NDTV that two cows recovered from the spot of the incident belong to Shankar Tanti, a resident of the area. The attack took place apparently after Tanti raised an alarm, they added.