India, New Delhi: An officer said Today, Police arrested four Muslim students on charges of breaching the peace after rumours the men were cooking beef sparked protests. Hundreds of fellow students and right-wing Hindu activists had gathered outside a university residence in the northern state of Rajasthan on Monday and were accusing the four of cooking beef, a taboo in parts of the Hindu-majority nation.

Many Indian states including Rajasthan have banned the consumption of cow meat, which has become even more contentious since the murder last year of a Muslim man wrongly suspected of eating beef. Local police officer Labhu Ram said a “tense” crowd had gathered and were demanding the men be arrested, although he denied media reports they had been physically attacked.

“We came to know about the incident and rushed to the campus,” he told AFP by phone from Chittorgarh district, where the university is located. “There was high tension as the angry crowd was demanding their arrest, we seized the suspected material and appealed people to leave the spot.” The arrested students, who were all from India-held Kashmir, were granted bail on Wednesday and have since been released. Ram said the meat they were cooking had been tested and found to be mutton, not beef.