Nine persons were arrested by the Seoni police relating to death of two tribal allegedly assaulted by a group of people over suspicion of cow slaughter in Simaria village under jurisdiction of Kurai police station in Seoni district.

Deepak Avadhia (38), Vedant Chouhan (18), Basant Raghuvanshi (32), Raghunandan Raghuvanshi (20),  Ajay Sahu (27) and Sher Singh Rathore (28) are named in the FIR, the official release said.

Three suspects – Anshul Chourasia (22), Shivraj Raghuvanshi (23) and Rinku Pal (30) – were also arrested, the police said. While searches is going for others having hand in the incident.

An FIR was registered on basis of a complaint by Brajesh Batti, who was injured in the incident told the police how a group of 15-20 people allegedly hit with canes Sampatlal Batti and Dhansay Inwati and him.

The district administration reportedly approved a financial assistance worth Rs 8.25 lakh for the kin of each of the deceased.

Sampatlal Batti’s daughter Sunita Batti is given appointment as a daily wage employee at a tribal girls’ hostel in Barelipar village, and Dhansay Inwati’s son Jaiprakash is appointed as a daily wager at a higher secondary school in Vijaypani village.

Following the incident, a group led by Congress MLA Arjun Singh Kakodia staged sit in on the Jabalpur-Nagpur highway on Tuesday to protest the incident and demanded job and financial assistance for the kin of the deceased.

Union minister and BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste told the local reporters on Tuesday action will be taken on the basis of an inquiry and nobody, irrespective of their association, will be spared.