An official complaint has been filed against a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician and 21 other men for allegedly beating a Muslim man to death in Bhadohi city in Uttar Pradesh.
The deceased was identified as Mustqueem, whose four children have been hospitalized.
Ashok Kumar Jaiswal, a BJP member and local municipality chairperson, has been booked under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code on Wednesday.
Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Bharti said the accused Jaiswal had been absconding since Wednesday, adding that seven people have been detained so far in the case.
According to a local media report, the incident was reported on Tuesday after Mustqueem's goat barged inside a Hindu neighborhood home.
Later that night, Jaiswal and dozens of others entered Mustqueem's house and thrashed him to death while his four children — two sons and two daughters — suffered injuries.
Meanwhile, as tensions erupted between the Hindu and Muslim communities, additional security forces were deployed in the city on Wednesday.