Seoni: Two men and a woman were thrashed by cow vigilantes over the suspicion of transporting beef in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni town. The victims were also forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

The incident took place on May 22 when the accused intercepted an auto rickshaw after they suspected that the couple on board was carrying beef. After the vehicle pulled over, they began thrashing the couple and their driver and forced one of the victims to slap his wife with his slippers.

However, the police registered a case only after a video went viral on May 24. All the accused have been arrested.

One of the assailants, Shubham Baghel, is a history-sheeter and the head of Sri Ram Sena. All the five accused –Baghel, Deepesh Namdev, Rohit Yadav, Sandip Uike and Shyam Deharia have been arrested by the police and booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Besides, the police have also arrested the victims — Taufiq, Anjum Shama and Dilip Malviya, for transporting beef and booked them under the Anti-cow Slaughter Act. They have been reportedly remanded to judicial custody by a court.

The viral video shows two men pleading to let them go as a crowd watches the trio being brutally beaten up.

When asked to comment on the incident, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Those who take law and order into their hands should be punished.”