Greater Noida: Police probing the mob lynching of a man today said that the "trigger" behind it was the announcement by a local temple that the beef was being consumed by the victim's family and said the priest and the two youths were the "major links" in the case.

The priest claimed he was being made to make the announcement, after which a mob lynched Mohd Akhlaq, father of an IAF officer, over rumours that his family ate and stored beef.