INDIAN police today began an inquiry into officers who allegedly went on a tea break instead of rushing a critically injured lynching victim to hospital.

Akbar Khan, 28, succumbed to his injuries after being attacked by a gang of Hindu “cow vigilantes” in the district of Alwar in Rajasthan state on Friday.

Cows are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India, where squads of vigilantes often roam highways, inspecting livestock trucks.

The murder stoked tension in the area amid media reports that police had stopped to have a tea break instead of taking Khan to hospital.

Police also allegedly cared for the cows first, transporting them to a bovine shelter farther away.

“Doubts have been cast on the initial response of local police,” state police chief O.P. Galhotra said in a written order seen by AFP today.

“A team has been constituted to look into the circumstances leading to the alleged delay and related issues.”

India’s right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been accused of turning a blind eye to a rising number of vigilante attacks on minority Muslims in the name of cow protection.

Rights groups have said Hindu mobs are emboldened by Modi’s party, which stormed to power in 2014.

The government today sought a report from state authorities on the latest lynching, and “steps taken to restore peace” in the area.

Two suspects have been arrested in the case.

Slaughtering cows is illegal in many Indian states, and some require a licence for transporting them across state borders. – AFP, July 23, 2018.