Court allows police to reinvestigate Pehlu Khan lynching case, BJP attacks Congress for appeasing Muslims
The famous Pehlu Khan lynching case in Rajasthan has been reopened as Alwar's local court has allowed the police to investigate again. The move has raised the question whether there were any bunglings in the earlier investigation during BJP Government's regime? But BJP has questioned Gehlot government's intention and has alleged that it is a move to appease Muslims which will result in rise in cow smuggling in Mewat region.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Court of Rajasthan, sanctioned to re-investigate the allegations of misappropriation of two sons of Pehlu Khan and the truck operator on Thursday. 27-year-old Irshad, son of Pehlu Khan who was killed in mob lynching, had demanded a fresh investigation from the DGP. After this, on the instructions of the police headquarters, the Alwar police had asked for re-examination in the ACJM court. SP (Alwar) Paras Anil Deshmukh said that "now investigations will be carried out on some aspects, Khan's son has told that they were going to sell animals in Tapukada of Alwar, while the report was shown that they were going to Haryana. The truck driver claimed that he had sold his vehicle to someone prior to the incident."
The police had filed a chargesheet against Pehlu Khan's son Irshad, Arif and truck operator Khan Mohammed on May 24. They were charged in the streams of the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or export ) Act 1995. According to the act no one is permitted to transport cows out of Rajasthan and prior transit permit from district administration is required for that. Earlier it was reported that Pehlu Khan was also accused in the chargesheet. However, later the police clarified that his name was removed from the chargesheet after his death.
The civil society organisation, People's Union for Civil Liberties earlier had condemned the state government for filing chargesheet against Khan saying that FIR against him was motivated. When the matter came to light, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said that the investigation of the case was held in the previous government in 2017-18. The names of Arif, Irshad and Khan Mohammed were not in the chargesheet filed in December 2018. "If there is any discrepancy in this investigation then we will again investigate. Our government will see that the investigation, in this case, was not done with a predetermined intention", Gehlot had said.
BJP state vice-president, Gyandev Ahuja, has attacked the Congress government. He said that Pehlu Khan, his brother and son were offenders and involved in cow smuggling and it seems that the government wants to save the accused and gather Muslim votes. "Police is neither working for Congress nor for BJP. They have presented a chargesheet which the government should trust. If they try to save the family these incidents of cow smuggling will only increase. Congress wants to appease Muslims for votes", said Gyandev Ahuja.
On April 1, 2017, on the Jaipur-Delhi highway in Alwar, the crowd beat Pehlu Khan and his son's for cow smuggling. He later died during treatment. Cross FIR was registered in this case. An FIR was made on the attacking crowd. At the same time, the second FIR was filed against Khan and his family. In this FIR, Pehlu and his family were accused of smuggling cows.