Rajasthan Police acquit six men accused of lynching Pehlu Khan

The Rajasthan police have closed the investigations against six men named by Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Hariyana, who was lynched by a mob for the alleged cow theft, just before his death in the hospital. The police claim that these six people were not in the scene while Pehlu Khan was brutally lynched by the mob at Alwar in Rajasthan.

The police have cleared Om Yadav (45), Hukum Chand Yadav (44), Sudhir Yadav (45), Jagmal Yadav (73), Naveen Sharma (48) and Rahul Saini (24) of all the charges accused against them. Three of the six people acquited in the case are linked with right-wing organisations.

The investigation was closed based on the statements by the staff of a cow shelter as well as mobile phone records, says the investigation report. “The statements of witnesses in the case including policemen and the employees of the Rath Gaushala indicate that none of the accused was present at the time of the attack. Call record details of the six people along with Base Transceiver Station (BTS) location of mobiles further support this,” the report said.

Meanwhile, Pehlu Khan’s family accused all the six people who were acquited by the police of having involvement in lynching him. Pehlu Khan’s son has accused the police of working under pressure and said that he will carry on the fight for justice.

Pehlu Khan was lynched by a group of cow vigilantes on April 1 while he was transporting cows from a market in Jaipur to his home in Nuh, Haryana. Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer had the documents to legally transport cows with him. But, the documents did not help him escape from the brutal lynching of the alleged ‘cow terrorists’.