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Alwar lynching: Pamphlets claim accused are social workers who help police

Hindustan Times, Jaipur | By
Apr 30, 2017 08:23 AM IST

Pamphlets being distributed in Alwar claim Pehlu Khan was a cow smuggler and the accused were being framed as they were not on the spot but with police at the time of the attack.

Almost three weeks after a dairy farmer was lynched in Rajasthan’s Alwar by alleged cow vigilantes, a campaign has been launched to project the murder accused, who are all on the run, as “social activists” with police as their alibi.

A sit-in demanding justice for dairy farmer Pehlu Khan who was killed allegedly by cow vigilantes.(HT file photo)
A sit-in demanding justice for dairy farmer Pehlu Khan who was killed allegedly by cow vigilantes.(HT file photo)

Thousands of unsigned pamphlets titled “Gautaskari ghatna ki sacchai (The truth of the cow-smuggling incident)” are being distributed in Alwar district, giving an entirely different version of the events on April 1.

Pehlu Khan (55), a dairy farmer from Haryana, and four other Muslims were attacked near Behror in Alwar district by alleged cow protectors (gau rakshaks) when they were transporting in two trucks cows and calves bought from a Jaipur cattle market.

Khan, who died of his injuries two days later in a hospital, had told police they were assaulted by a group of men though they had permit to transport the animals.

Cow slaughter and smuggling is banned in most parts of India.

Police are already under fire for going soft on the nine accused, who find a mention in the pamphlet that says three trucks transporting cattle were intercepted by “social workers” on April 1.

Thousands of pamphlets being distributed in Alwar claim Pehlu Khan was a cow smuggler and the accused are innocent social workers. (HT photo)
Thousands of pamphlets being distributed in Alwar claim Pehlu Khan was a cow smuggler and the accused are innocent social workers. (HT photo)

The “social workers” brought the cow smugglers to the Behror police station, where station in-charge Ramesh Sinsinwar helped them take the “rescued cattle” to a gaushala (cow shelter) in nearby Dahmi, says the flyer being distributed by the cow vigilante group Gau Raksha Dal.

The pamphlet goes on to say Om Yadav, Hukum Yadav, Naveen Sharma, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Singh Yadav, Sonu Tiwari, Sanjay Tiwari, Rahul Saini, Sandip Kumar and others went to the cow shed and stayed there from 6.10pm and 8pm.

The men named are accused of murdering Khan and the two hours they “spent” in the shed was the time when the dairy farmer was attacked.

The pamphlet says assistant sub-inspectors Raghuveer Meena and Vikram Jat and a head constable, who has not been named, accompanied the men to the gaushala on Sinsinwar’s instructions.

“It is a matter of investigation and I don’t want to comment on this,” said Sinsinwar on Wednesday when asked about the pamphlet.

Meena refused comment, saying “When such a matter arises in the investigation, only then will I talk about it.”

Despite repeated attempts, Vikram Jat couldn’t be reached for comments.

Behror deputy superintendent of police Parmal Singh, who is the investigating officer of the case, said he didn’t know about the pamphlet.

“I haven’t received any such pamphlet. If such a thing comes to my notice, I will investigate it,” he said.

The pamphlet says an unruly crowd beat up the men, injuring “cow smuggler” Pehlu Khan, who later died.

The “social workers” named in the FIR have nothing to do with the incident as they were at the Dahmi gaushala with the police, says the pamphlet, which ends with an appeal to people to draw their own conclusion based on the information provided to them.

“The people named in the FIR would often help police and the fact that they have been falsely accused is very unfortunate,” said Suresh Yadav, one of the men instrumental in distributing the pamphlet.

Yadav said he was a “social worker” who wants to bring out the truth about the April 1 incident.

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