A Muslim truck driver was lynched in Bihar on Wednesday night by a mob that suspected his freight of cattle bones, a raw material for making capsules for medicines, was beef because Id ul Zoha was hours away.

Seven persons have been arrested so far for the murder in Saran district.

The deceased, identified as 55-year-old Muhammad Zahiruddin, was crossing Khori Pakar under Jalalpur police station in the district when his vehicle developed a snag and stopped late on Wednesday night.

He was transporting cattle bones to a factory at Marhaura in the district that makes medicinal ingredients. Cattle bones are used to make gelatine for the pharmaceutical industry. Gelatine is used to make capsules and in cosmetics, health supplements and some medicinal products.

Zahiruddin, a native of Majhwalia village in Saran, and his helper got out of the vehicle to find out what had gone wrong with it. A crowd assembled at the spot and demanded to know what was being transported in the truck.

“The odour from the truck did not help the matter and the people started thrashing him. He (Zahiruddin) died there,” Saran Sadar sub-divisional police officer Santosh Kumar told The Telegraph.

Zahiruddin could not run away because he had fractured one of his legs a few years ago and undergone surgery for the insertion of a stainless steel rod.

The helper, Khurshid Ali, managed to escape. He informed the owner of the factory for which the bones were being transported.

Factory owner Muhammad Haider told reporters that the lynching took place in front of some police personnel from Jalalpur police station who had reached there.

“The helper told us that the mob attacked Zahiruddin as it was Id and they suspected he was transporting beef. However, he was transporting dry animal bones for my industrial unit, which has been operating here since the time of my grandfather,” Haider told reporters.

“My factory is a legal one. The bones go into the making of ingredients used in medicines. The ingredients are sent to pharmaceutical companies,” Haider added.

Asked about the incident, Saran superintendent of police Gaurav Mangla said an FIR had been registered and seven persons arrested.

“The truck was coming from Tajpur in our district and was carrying bones to a factory at Marhaura that makes medicinal ingredients. It is a registered factory. We are taking further action with regard to the crime,” Mangla said.