Patna, Aug. 18: A mob that included VHP supporters attacked six families in Bihar's West Champaran yesterday on the suspicion that they had eaten beef, the second such instance since Nitish Kumar re-embraced the BJP less than a month ago in a state not known for cow vigilantism.

Till this evening, police had not arrested any of the attackers but the victims were taken into custody, purportedly to protect them. Late tonight, Bettiah Sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Sanjay Jha said a complaint had been lodged against the attackers on the basis of a statement from the wife of a victim.

The 100-strong group, brandishing sticks and chanting "Bharat Mata ki jai", thrashed six men and held one person captive in almost a rerun of the lynching in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri in September 2015. Narendra Modi's initial silence over Dadri had prompted Nitish, then a trenchant critic and a Lalu Prasad ally, to question the Prime Minister's "conscience".

Efforts by this newspaper to reach the chief minister for a comment were futile. Deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi pleaded ignorance but said he would find out. "The rule of law will prevail. The guilty will not be spared. Nobody will be allowed to take the law into his hand," he said.

The first instance of cow vigilantism in Bihar in recent memory took place on August 3, when three people were thrashed publicly for allegedly smuggling beef in Bhojpur district. The alleged smugglers were arrested and a station house officer was suspended but no action was taken against the vigilantes.

Yesterday's attack unfolded at Dumra village of West Champaran, around 185km northwest of Patna.

Rajdev Sah, a resident who has lodged an FIR, alleged that a calf had gone missing from the village on Wednesday evening and the villagers suspected it had been killed for meat.

Around 9am, the crowd that included residents of neighbouring villages attacked the home of Kudus Qureshi, husband of a local mukhiya (panchayat head), suspecting he was consuming beef at home.

Slaughter of milk-yielding cows and transport of beef are banned in Bihar but consumption does not figure on the list.

The attackers barged into Qureshi's neighbour Shahabuddin's house, beat him up and confined him in a room, accusing him of eating and supplying beef. No beef was found at the home.

The raid continued till late afternoon, by when the intruders had swooped on the homes of Mustafa Mian, Nasiruddin, Jehangir, Aslam Ansari, Rizwan and Babloo Mian in their search for beef and thrashed them.

One of the victims managed to inform the local police, who rushed to the spot with reinforcements from a neighbouring police station and a police outpost.

A local VHP leader, Neeraj, said gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) were keeping close tabs on the people involved in consumption and transport of beef in the district.

"We have our activists almost in every village, who keep on passing information about illegal slaughterhouses and beef smuggling," Neeraj said.

Chanpatia police station house officer Rajesh Jha said Shahabuddin had been rescued and sent to a hospital along with three other injured.

He added that had the police not taken the victims into custody, "some untoward incident could have happened".

Bettiah SDPO Jha reached the village and pacified the attackers by promising to take action against cattle thieves.

"By the time I reached the spot, most of the residents had dispersed but the ones present were adamant on action against the members of the minority community," Jha told The Telegraph today.

"Since the issue had snowballed into a major problem for the law-enforcing agency, we had to take some people into custody."

The SDPO said the seven people detained yesterday would be sent to custody on the charge of hurting religious sentiments.

Asked on what basis they had been charged, he replied: "They have been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by one Rajdev Sah, a resident of Dumra village."

Qureshi said the police had initially ignored the victims' complaints. "They are not ready to listen to our grievances," Qureshi said before the cops produced him in the local court today.

"We are in minority in the village and will face the wrath of the villagers if any police complaint is lodged against them."

He alleged that the attackers had pelted the police van with stones when the cops sent the victims to Bettiah - the West Champaran district headquarters - yesterday, partially damaging the windscreen.

West Champaran superintendent of police Vinay Kumar said armed police had been deployed at the village as a precaution.

Around 10-12 minority community families live in the village, he added.