Two men were attacked by a mob in Kota district of Rajasthan on Tuesday night while they were transporting bovines to Madhya Pradesh.
Police have arrested five people in connection with the incident.
On Tuesday night, a mob stopped a truck near the Hanging Bridge toll plaza in Kota district and assaulted two men, Praveen Tiwari (30), the owner of the bovines and Ahmad Ali (40) the driver.
Both were travelling in the same truck and sustained injuries in the attack and were referred to a hospital.
According to the police, both men were assaulted by the mob. As per preliminary investigation, they were attacked by the mob because of their mistaken identity of being cattle smugglers.
Rajendra Kumar Meena, station house officer at R K Puram police station said, " We have arrested five men under sections section 384, 341 and 323. While questioning we got to know that they worked at the toll plaza. The accused revealed that they attacked the truck as they felt the animals were being illegally transported".
The victims tried to call the police but the attackers snatched away their mobile phones.
"I had come to Jaipur to purchase bovines. I purchased seven milch cows near Chomu for 2 lakh before we started our return journey to Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday", Praveen Tiwari, a resident of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh told DH.
According to Tiwari, the mob also took Rs 7,000 which he was carrying in his pocket.
"We have our doubts that many in the mob have connections with cow protection groups. The mob was forcibly asking us to confess that we are cow smugglers".
However, SHO Meena said it was too early to reach any conclusion.