A man was tied up and thrashed by a group of people over allegations of smuggling cattle

A man was tied up and thrashed by a group of people over allegations of smuggling cattle in Madhya Pradesh, the police said on Sunday.

A video that has been circulated online shows a group of men intercepting a truck and freeing cattle inside it before beating up a man whose hands are tied with a rope.

The man who was beaten was arrested by the police, while his attackers are missing; his crime was "far more serious", the police said.

"We got information yesterday that a truck carrying 30 cattle was stopped. Our staff went to the spot and took action under Cattle Preservation Act and relevant sections of the IPC. We seized the truck and arrested the man," said police officer Sandeep Mishra said.

"The first crime (cattle transportation) is more serious and we have clear instructions from the government that these crimes should be strictly dealt with," said the police officer.

He also said that a thorough investigation is being held into what happened.

Over three cases of mob attacks on alleged cattle thieves have been reported in the last two months.

On June 25, two men were allegedly thrashed by a group in Haryana's Gurgaon district on the suspicion of smuggling cattle.

On July 7, a group of 24 men who claimed to be transporting cattle to an animal fair in Maharashtra were thrashed and forced to chant "gau mata ki jai" by a gang of cow vigilantes in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

Three days before the incident in Madhya Pradesh, a suspected cattle thief was beaten to death by a mob in Tripura's Dhalai district.