Thousands of people in Dimapur, India, stormed a jail that was holding a man accused of rape, brought him out into the streets, and beat him to death on Thursday, the New York Times reports. Police who were guarding the jail were overcome by the mob, though an official was unable to explain how.

The Times reports that Syed Sirf Khan, a man identified by locals as an "illegal migrant from Bangladesh," was being held in a local jail after being accused of raping a Naga woman from a tribal community that makes up almost 90 percent of the Nagaland state, where Dimapur is the capital. Tensions over nontribal populations moving into Nagaland have been heightened as of late, the Times notes.

Video from the attack, which was shared by news organized NDTV, shows disturbing imagery of a mob leading the naked man down a street before he was allegedly thrashed by the group, which was reported to be between 1,500 and 4,000 people strong. The Times spoke to L. L. Doungel, the top police official where the incident occurred:

It was also not clear on Friday how far he was taken before the police stopped the procession, though Mr. Doungel said that it was "quite a distance" from the jail. Eventually, the police fired on the crowd, killing one protester and wounding several others. But by the time Mr. Khan's body was recovered, he was dead.

According to NDTV, the chief minister of Nagaland, T.R. Zeliang, has ordered a high-level investigation of the incident.

[Image via AP]