Pehlu Khan (55), a man attacked by vigilantes for allegedly smuggling cows, died at a hospital in Alwar district of Rajasthan on Monday.

A manhunt has been launched for the accused.

In Jaipur, Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said it was “all right” that some people caught those who were illegally transporting animals but added that “no one has the right to take the law into his own hands.” Mr. Kataria said the police would take appropriate action.

Pehlu Khan and four others, including his two sons, were beaten brutally on Saturday by villagers who suspected that they were smuggling cows. Sixteen persons were allegedly transporting 36 bovine animals illegally in six pick-up vans.

They were on their way to Haryana from Jaipur when the vigilantes stopped two of the vans in Behror on the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway.

Pehlu Khan, his sons Aarif, 22, and Irshad, 25, were in the first van, while Ajmat, 28 and Sharif, 24, were in the second.

All of them were thrashed and their vans damaged.

The four vans which followed were also stopped by the police. In them, 11 persons were found and arrested under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, ASI of the Behror police station Vikram Singh said.

The five men who were beaten were admitted to a district hospital where Pehlu Khan died.