Rajasthan Police has filed a chargesheet for cow smuggling against Pehlu Khan, who was lynched in 2017 by a Hindu mob of 'gau rakshaks' in Alwar for transporting cattle. Now, the Rajasthan government has filed a chargesheet against the dead dairy farmer for cow smuggling.
Khan, a resident of a village in Mewat, had reportedly bought cattle to increase milk production in the wake of Ramzan. He had produced his receipts to the angry mob which killed him using sticks and rods.
According to India Today, 55-year-old Pehlu Khan, a native of Nuh in Haryana, was brutally beaten up by self-styled cow vigilantes near Behror in Rajasthan on the Delhi-Alwar highway on April 1, accusing him of smuggling cattle. He succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on April 3. The lynching was caught on camera.
The dead Khan has now been charged under Sections 5, 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995. His sons, Arif and Irshad, have also been named in the chargesheet. It was presented at a court in Rajasthan’s Behror late last month.
Unsurprisingly, the chargesheet has come as a shock to Khan’s family. The Indian Express quoted his son Irshad as saying that the family’s hopes from the new government were dashed following the news of the chargesheet.
The chargesheet against Khan was prepared on December 30 last year, 13 days after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's government came into power in Rajasthan.
According to India Today, there were two FIRs registered in the case. One was against the mob for beating Pehlu Khan to death, and second against him and his family for transporting cattle (cow) illegally out of the state.
Rajastahan police had earlier given a clean chit to the six people accused of lynching Khan, based on statements of the staff of a cow shelter and mobile phone records.
Rajasthan BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja claimed on Saturday that all the allegations against the 'gau rakshaks' and the Hindu Parishad are wrong.
"Locals caught Pehlu Khan's vehicle in which he was smuggling cows and they had only stopped them. He died in police custody; locals hadn't beaten him” he added.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot responded to the backlash saying, "Investigation of this case was done in the past during BJP government and chargesheet was presented. If any discrepancies will be found in the investigation, case will be re-investigated.", reported India Today.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Congress governement on Twitter saying: "Congress in 'Power' is replica of BJP.
