Police said that a group of Muslim men transporting horses became involved in an altercation with Hindu men in the remote mountainous region of Srinagar in Indian occupied Kashmir.
Nayeem Ahmed Shah, said to be somewhere around the age of 50, was shot in the head and died on the spot. Another man Yasin Hussain was also shot and wounded.
“We are investigating the angle of cow vigilantism,” M.K. Singha, inspector general of police for the region said. In the wake of the killing, angry locals took to the street and protested. They also threw stones at vehicles of the police, who had to use tear gas to disperse them.
Locals said that Nayeem Ahmed was killed by cow vigilantes.
Hindus consider cows sacred and their slaughter is banned across much of India, including occupied Kashmir.
But beef is openly sold across many parts of the state where resentment against Indian rule is widespread.
Critics say that extremists have been emboldened by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power nationally in 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Cows are revered by Hindus and according to Human Rights Watch some 44 people died in cow-related violence by Hindu vigilantes between May 2015 and December last year.