In the high-profile case of the lynching of the alleged cow-smuggler Pehlu Khan, a Rajasthan court has absolved all the six accused. Presently, a total of 9 are accused in the case, 6 accused who have been acquitted by the Alwar court and remaining 3 were minors at the time of the crime, are being tried separately at a juvenile court.
6 accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching case (2017) in Alwar have been acquitted by a Rajasthan court. pic.twitter.com/oGzsFY64Ri
— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2019
On the basis of the video evidence in possession of the police, six men — Vipin Yadav, Ravindra Kumar, Kaluram, Dayaram, Yogesh Kumar alias Dholia, and Bhim Rathi — were arrested under sections 147, 323, 341, 302, 308, 379 and 427 of the IPC. The prosecution had presented a total of 44 witnesses in the case which concluded on August 7, 2019.
Earlier, the case was tried in Behror but was later transferred to Alwar after witnesses in the case-Azmat, Rafiq and Pehlu Khan’s two sons-Irshad and Arif alleged last year that they were fired upon while going for a hearing. However, on investigation police found no proof of firing on Pehlu Khan’s two sons and witnesses. Police believed that the story of bullets being shot at must have been cooked up to get the case transferred to Alwar or Tijara.
A native of Haryana’s Nuh, the 55-year old Pehlu Khan and his sons were allegedly accosted by a bunch of people on the suspicion that they smuggled cattle to neighbouring states for slaughter. The mob lynched Pehlu Khan with rods and sticks on April 1, 2017, two days after which Khan died of the injuries.
