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Alwar lynching: Pehlu Khan murder probe handed over to CID crime branch
This is the fourth time that the investigating officer has been changed in a case that shook the nation and even found resonance in Parliament.
Three months after Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Haryana, was lynched allegedly by a mob of gaurakshaks in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, the state police has handed over the investigation into the case to the criminal investigation department -crime branch (CB-CID).
This is the fourth time that the investigating officer has been changed in a case that shook the nation and even found resonance in Parliament. Six accused named in the case by the victim are yet to be arrested.
“Yes, the case has been handed over to the CID-CB and it will be investigating the matter now,” additional director general of police (crime) Pankaj Kumar Singh told HT.
Fifty-five-year-old Pehlu Khan was attacked by gau rakshaks on April 1 while he was transporting cattle that he had purchased from a market in Jaipur to his native village of Jaisinghpur in Haryana. Two days later, he succumbed to injuries during treatment at a hospital.
A case was filed at the Berhor police station and the station house office, Behror, started the investigations. With the police failing to make any significant breakthrough and following the nation-wide outrage and condemnation over the attack, the case was handed over to the deputy superintendent of police (Behror) Parmal Singh Gurjar.
The third change took place in May when the case was handed over to the additional superintendent of police (Kotputli), Ram Swaroop Sharma on the orders of the inspector general of police, Jaipur. The change, again, had come following mounting criticism of the slow progress in the case.
Pehlu Khan’s family expressed resentment over the investigation and threatened to commit mass suicide if the accused get bail.
“The pace of the investigation is very disappointing. Despite strong evidence, the accused are likely to get bail within three months. If that happens, all our family members will commit suicide,” Pehlu Khan’s uncle Hussain Khan said at an event organised by the Bhumi Adhikar Andolan in New Delhi.
