In a shocking revelation, it has been alleged that the man who was lynched in Rajasthan’s Alwar on suspicion of cow smuggling had been in police custody for over three hours after the attack before he was taken to hospital.
Rakbar Khan and his accomplice, who were transporting cows from their native Kolganv village in Haryana to Ramgarh, were severely beaten up by the villagers of Ramgarh on Friday night on suspicion of smuggling cows.
While Khan was severely injured in the attack, according to reports, local eyewitnesses have claimed that it was police negligence that caused his death.
After the police were informed about the alleged attack, reports said they reached the spot, took Khan into their vehicle, washed him, stopped somewhere to have tea and then changed his clothes at the police station, before taking him to a health centre in Ramgarh, where he was declared dead on arrival.
It is also alleged that the police had beaten up Khan at the police station.
However, the Rajasthan Police have denied all the charges while stating that any such negligence would be dealt with strictly.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the case, the police said on Sunday.
Also, the investigation was handed over to an additional SP rank officer by the IG of Jaipur range, earlier on Sunday.
Inspector General (Jaipur range) Hemant Priyadarshy said an impartial investigation would be carried out. No culprit would be spared nor would any innocent be framed, he added.
The incident comes just three days after the Supreme Court condemned the growing incidents of mob lynching across the country and asked Parliament to consider enacting a new law to effectively deal with such incidents.
In April, last year, Pehlu Khan was beaten to death on suspicion of cow smuggling by vigilantes in Alwar district.
Later in November, cow vigilantes shot dead Umar, aged around 35, and injured another man in Govindgarh in Alwar district on suspicion of cow smuggling.