A Muslim man has been killed by a mob of vigilantes in India after being accused of smuggling cows for slaughter, according to officials.

Akbar Khan, 28, was beaten to death by the group on Friday evening in the northwest of Rajasthan state while transporting cows through a village around 160km from the state capital Jaipur, local police said.

According to police officer Mohan Singh, the mob intercepted Khan and another man on foot who were herding two cows at around midnight Friday in a forested area. He said the mob began punching and beating the men with sticks. One managed to escape while Khan was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan's chief minister, described the attack as "condemnable" in a tweet, adding those who carried out the attack would face the "strictest possible action".

Rajasthan's police inspector general, Hemant Priyadarshi, told AFP news agency two suspects had been arrested after initially being detained for questioning.

"Both of them were caught from the crime scene ... [But] We are still trying to identify all others involved in this late night crime," Priyadarshi said.

"Before dying, the victim told us that the attackers accused him of being a cattle smuggler."

The incident came 15 months after the killing of another Muslim man, Pehlu Khan, by a mob in Rajasthan while he was transporting cows in the area last April.

Last month, two Muslim men were lynched in eastern Jharkhand state on charges of cattle theft. (Aljazeera)

•Many Indian states, including Rajasthan, outlaw cow slaughter with some also banning the sale or transport of beef products.

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