Some 2,000 people took to the streets Monday in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir to protest the killing of a teenage Muslim truck driver who was burned to death in the cab of his truck, apparently because he was wrongly suspected of transporting beef. 
 
 It was the third instance in recent weeks in which a Muslim man has been killed over beef. Cows are considered sacred by Hindus. 
 
 Zahid Rasool Bhat, 18, the truck driver who died Sunday of burns, was buried Monday in his village, Botengo, in South Kashmir. Hindu militants are suspected of carrying out the attack, in which gasoline bombs were reportedly thrown into his vehicle on Oct. 9. The incident was caught on security cameras. 
 
 Bhat was reportedly carrying coal in his truck, not beef. 
 
 Protesters poured into the streets following his funeral, expressing grief and anger over his killing. “The protestors chanted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans,” said Shujaat Bukhari, editor of Rising Kashmir, an independent newspaper in the state. 
 
 The protests ultimately gave way to violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Police fired tear- and pepper-gas shells to subdue the stone-throwing protesters. 
 
 The chief minister of the state, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, condemned the killing and announced that the government would give Bhat’s family compensation of about $7,700, along with a government job. 
 
 Kamal Singh / AP Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, left, after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi to protest the death of a Muslim trucker killed over a rumor that he was transporting beef. Jammu and Kashmir lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh, left, after suspected activists of a right-wing organization threw ink on his face after he addressed a press conference in New Delhi to protest the death of a Muslim trucker killed over a rumor that he was transporting beef. (Kamal Singh / AP) (Kamal Singh / AP) 
 
 Five people were arrested for murder, rioting, conspiracy and explosives charges, according to Waheed-ur-Rahman, spokesman of the state government. He said one had fled and was the target of a manhunt. He said the case would be held in a “fast-track” court designed to speed up India’s typically slow judicial process. 
 
 In response to concerns over religious tensions, the government of Jammu and Kashmir state declared a curfew in several parts of south Kashmir, and the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was being patrolled by a heavy police presence as well as paramilitary forces. The police have also stopped the entry of trucks into Kashmir as a precautionary measure. 
 
 “The situation is very intense at the moment,” said Bukhari. “Tempers are palpably running high. People have reacted strongly to the murder. We can only hope the situation does not lead to serious riots.” 
 
 Also Monday, Hindu militants threw ink on a Muslim lawmaker in New Delhi, where he was holding a news conference to protest Zahid's death. "India will not tolerate any disrespect to cows!" the assailants reportedly shouted. 
 
 The lawmaker, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, had drawn the ire of Hindu extremists earlier this month for hosting a party at which beef was served. 
 
 In previous recent cases, a mob of suspected members of the radical Hindu group Bajrang Dal killed a Muslim man for allegedly smuggling cattle from India's Himachal Pradesh last week. Three weeks earlier, a man in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was lynched by a mob over apparently false rumors that he had been eating beef. 
 
 Parth M.N. is a special correspondent 
 
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 FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2015 file photo, a student activist holds a placard during a protest denouncing the killing of a 52-year-old Muslim farmer Mohammad Akhlaq by villagers upon hearing rumors that the family was eating beef, a taboo for many among India's majority Hindu population, in New Delhi,... (Associated Press) 
 
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 NEW DELHI (AP) — A Muslim man beaten by a mob that accused him of transporting cows for slaughter has died in western India, police said Wednesday, in the latest violence by Hindu vigilante groups enraged over treatment of the animal they consider sacred. 
 
 Pehlu Khan died late Tuesday of injuries sustained when he and 14 other men were brutally beaten three days earlier in Rajasthan state, police said. 
 
 Hindus, who form 80 percent of India's 1.3 billion population, consider cows to be sacred and for many eating beef is taboo. In many Indian states, the slaughtering of cows and selling of beef is either restricted or banned. 
 
 The men had bought the dairy cows at a cattle fair and were taking them home in neighboring Haryana state when the mob stopped the trucks, pulled out the men and beat them, said the duty officer at the police control room in Behror town, where Saturday's attack took place. 
 
 Behror is about 155 kilometers (95 miles) southwest of India's capital, New Delhi. 
 
 Indian television channels broadcast video of the men being beaten with sticks and iron rods. One of the truck drivers, a Hindu, was released by the mob, but was warned not to transport cattle in his truck. 
 
 No arrests have been made, the police officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. 
 
 Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, took office in 2014, hard-line Hindus have been demanding that India ban beef sales — a key industry for many within India's poor, minority Muslim community. There has also been a sharp rise in the activities of self-styled Hindu cow-protection groups that stop trucks on highways and attack anyone transporting bovine animals. 
 
 Rumors of beef eating by Muslims have sparked violence in several places in northern India. About two years ago, a man was beaten to death by a mob over rumors his family had eaten beef, and two others were killed for allegedly transporting cows for slaughter.
– For the third time in less than a month, a Muslim man has been killed over beef. In the most recent incident, an 18-year-old truck driver was burned in the cab of his truck in an Indian-controlled part of Kashmir Oct. 9 because he was suspected of transporting beef; he died of his injuries Sunday. The teen was actually carrying coal, the Los Angeles Times reports. Hindu militants are suspected in the gasoline bomb attack—Hindus consider cows sacred for religious reasons, while Muslims eat beef. Two thousand demonstrators flooded the streets in Kashmir Monday to protest the attack, and violent clashes broke out between them and security forces. A curfew has been instituted. The first recent murder took place late last month when a Muslim man in India's Uttar Pradesh state was lynched by a mob over rumors (apparently untrue) that he'd eaten beef. Then, last week, a Muslim man was killed by members of a radical Hindu group because he had allegedly smuggled cattle from another Indian state. Also today, Hindu militants threw ink on a Muslim lawmaker who recently served beef at a party he hosted. They reportedly shouted, "India will not tolerate any disrespect to cows." Nine people have been arrested in connection to the latest death, the AP reports.