Nagpur: Man mercilessly beaten by cow vigilantes turns out to be BJP leader; four arrested

Nagpur man mercilessly thrashed by Gau Rakshaks recently for allegedly carrying beef has turned out to be a Bhartiya Janta Party leader. 

On Wednesday, the video of four people brutally beating up a 40-year-old Muslim man in Nagpur's Bharsingi area on suspicion of carrying beef went viral. 

According to reports, the victim, Salim Ismail Shah was going home on his scooter, when he was stopped by four cow vigilantes on suspicion that he was carrying beef. 

He plead his attackers that it was mutton and beef which he was carrying but they refused to believe him and thrashed him. 

Unfortunately for them, the victim turned out to be one of them. Salim is the head of BJP minority cell in Maharashtra's Katol. 

Salim, a resident of Katol town, is a "dedicated party worker," his mother Rihana was quoted as saying by The Hindu. 

"He was not carrying beef," she said. Even BJP's Nagpur rural president Rajiv Potdar defended Salim. However, Potdar added that the "attackers have no relation with the BJP."

Salim sustained severe injuries and had to be admitted to a hospital. The police have arrested the four men. 

#WATCH: Man beaten up for allegedly carrying beef in Nagpur's Bharsingi, no arrests have been made yet. #Maharashtra (July 12th) pic.twitter.com/JiFAZMfRSS

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 13, 2017

Video | Maharashtra: Man allegedly beaten for carrying beef in Nagpur's Bharsingi, four persons detained for interrogation