The Uttar Pradesh police late on Thursday apologised after a controversial photo showing three cops of the force walking ahead of a group of men who are dragging a victim of mob violence in Hapur went viral.

In the apology, which was issued through its official Twitter handle, the UP Police wrote, “We are Sorry for the Hapur Incident. Law & order incidents often lead to unintended yet undesirable acts.”

The police also posted screenshots containing a separate statement on the incident, a tweet drawing their attention to the act, and a picture of cops helping the victim get into a Dial 100 police car.

“We apologise for the incident. All three policemen seen in the picture have been transferred to Police Lines and an enquiry has been ordered,” the statement issued by DGP HQS read.

“This picture seems to have been taken when the Police had reached the spot to shift the injured to a Police Vehicle and because of the non-availability of an ambulance at that moment, the victim was unfortunately carried this way,” the police said.

“Admittedly, the Policemen should have been more sensitive in their conduct. The humane concerns got ignored in the urgency of saving a life and maintaining law and order. As is clear from the other picture, the victim was rushed to the hospital by Policemen in a UP 100 PRV,” added the UP police, which faced the wrath of social media users over the viral photo and the incident.

We are Sorry for the Hapur Incident.
Law & order incidents often lead to unintended yet undesirable acts. pic.twitter.com/w5Tsen9UxG

— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) June 21, 2018

Hapur SP Sankalp Sharma had on Thursday said that preliminary investigations suggested that cops who rushed to the spot had called an ambulance to take Kasim and Samadeen to a hospital.

“The said photo is of the time when villagers were taking Kasim up to the ambulance on the direction of the cops,” he said. He, however, didn’t deny the possibility of a few anti-social elements misbehaving with the victims when he was being shifted to the ambulance.

The man being dragged in the photo was Kasim, who was lynched to death by a mob following a qurrel after a minor motorcycle accident. The incident happened in Bajhera village of Pilakhua in Hapur on Monday.

While Kasim, 45, died, another man identified as Samadeen, 70, was injured by the mob.

Riding a motorcycle, Kasim had a minor accident with a villager, after which a mob attacked him. Samadeen, who was working in a nearby field, was also injured in this attack. His condition is stated to be stable.

There were reports that Kasim was attacked by residents of Bajhera village, which is dominated by Thakur community, over rumours of cow-slaughter. The police, however, trashed the theory outright.

Police have arrested two people in the case which was registered against over two dozen residents of village Bajhera.

“The process of identifying the perpetrators of crime would go on and they would be sent to the jail soon,” said Sharma.