A sadhu was beaten to death in Hamirpur district while another was found hanging from a tree in Lucknow on Saturday.

Mahant Ratiram, 60, the head priest of Siddh Baba Mandir at Kharehi Mihuna village in Hamirpur district, was attacked with sticks and bricks by five persons during an argument following an accident.

Banke Bihari Singh, a local police inspector, said: “An SUV had hit a motorcycle. The sadhu, who was riding pillion, had tried to calm nerves when the two drivers came to blows. The SUV driver and some other people then assaulted him. The sadhu was taken to a hospital with serious head injuries and died during treatment.” Singh said the police had arrested one person and were looking for the four other accused.

Eyewitnesses, however, said the sadhu was a bystander, not the pillion rider. “An SUV and a tractor had collided. When those in the two vehicles began to fight, the sadhu had tried to pacify them. The SUV driver called his friends, who reached the spot within minutes and started beating the sadhu. He fell to the ground. The police took him to hospital, where he died,” a resident said.

Ram Baran Yadav, the younger brother of Ratiram, has lodged a police complaint.

In Lucknow district, a sadhu identified as Sukhdev Sahu was found hanging from a tree in the forest at Dubagga. The police claimed Sahu used to take drugs and had been arrested earlier for possessing marijuana. Local people told reporters that the sadhu had fractured his left hand and it had been placed in a cast. “It would not have been possible for Sahu to climb the tree, tie a rope and hang himself. It is clearly murder,” a local said.

At least four sadhus have been killed and several attacked over the past year in Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the saffron-clad Yogi Adityanath who is also a temple mahant.