Alwar lynching case: Police took cows to shelter, stopped for tea before taking victim to hospital, say reports

A day after a man was lynched in Alwar  on suspicion of cow smuggling, media reports have claimed that there was a three-and-a-half-hour delay on the part of the police in taking the victim, Rakbar Khan, to the hospital. Here is the video of police taking the victim to the hospital.

According to NDTV, the police first took the seized cows to a shelter, took Khan to the police station, which is near the hospital, and also stopped on the way to have tea before taking him to the hospital. The FIR in the case revealed that the police received a call at about 12.41 am but they arrived at the spot at 1.15 or 1.20 am. An eyewitness also told NDTV that the police had beaten up the victim at the police station before taking him to the hospital. [caption id=“attachment_4628581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Facebook/ @PoliceRajasthan[/caption] On Saturday, Rakbar Khan, 28, and his friend Aslam were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forested area near Lalawandi in Alwar district when five men attacked them, Ramgarh police station SHO Subhash Sharma said. They suspected that Khan was smuggling cows, but the allegation is yet to be verified. According to The Print, local cow protection groups in Alwar have also said that the victim died in police custody and not because of mob violence as suggested by officials. The police, however, have strongly denied the allegations. BJP leader Gyan Dev Ahuja on Sunday said the Alwar lynching accused must be released, as sources have informed him that Khan was taken to the police station and beaten up for being a ‘cow smuggler’, CNN-News reported. VHP leader Naval Kishore Sharma, who had called the police and alerted them about the lynching incident, also repeated Ahuja’s claims. Sharma even told The Print the two persons who have been arrested , Dharmendra Yadav and Paramjeet Singh Sardar, had helped the police to put Khan in the police van. Since the condition of Khan was not critical at that point, they had stopped for tea, Sharma added. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday condemned the lynching of Rakbar Khan saying, “The incident of alleged lynching of a person transporting bovines in Alwar district is condemnable. Strictest possible action shall be taken against the perpetrators,” she said. But Opposition leaders criticised her government for failing to stop such attacks. Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot termed the incident “horrific”. Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot too blamed the BJP government, saying killing of people on ‘suspicion’ is sadly becoming a norm in BJP-ruled states. With inputs from PTI